Department for Transport

Cycling: Road Traffic Offences

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2018 to Question 133895, when his Department plans to respond to the Cycle Safety Review, published on 9 March 2018.

Jesse Norman: The Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy Safety Review: Call for Evidence was published on 9 March 2018 and will close on 1 June 2018. The Department for Transport intends to publish a summary of responses and next steps in the Autumn.

Aviation: Safety

Robert Courts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on the safety of general aviation of the use of controlled airspace.

Jesse Norman: Aviation safety is the overarching duty of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The CAA is the UK’s independent aviation regulator and acts as the national supervisory authority responsible for the planning and regulation of national airspace. It sets the process for change in UK airspace, and makes decisions on proposals made by sponsors to change the notified UK airspace design. The Government has appointed Byron Davies as its first ever General Aviation Champion, in order to identify a network of strategically important airfields and to help the future development of the general aviation sector.

Air Space

Robert Courts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that any change to lower airspace strategy recognises the needs of all types of aviation; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: The UK's airspace modernisation programme, together with the Aviation Strategy, aims to provide a framework that enables the aviation industry, including general aviation, and communities to continue to work together to deliver a more efficient and modernised airspace, while managing the environmental effects of aviation. The Government has also asked the Civil Aviation Authority to develop a strategy for the modernisation of the UK’s airspace, and to report annually on its delivery. This strategy will take into account the interests of all airspace users.

Aviation

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to assess the infrastructure needs of the UK general aviation sector.

Jesse Norman: The Government is seeking to define a strategic network of General Aviation airfields. To achieve this the Government has appointed Byron Davies to be the General Aviation Champion. Mr Davies has been tasked with advising on the development of the sector, and of the role it plays within the UK’s economy and society. At the end of 2018 he will deliver a report on the state and future potential of general aviation. He is being assisted by York Aviation, which the Department has commissioned to carry out research on airfields of strategic significance. However, the provision of infrastructure to general aviation airfields is a matter for private sector airfield owners and operators.

Motorways: Speed Limits

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's policy is on the use of average speed limit cameras on smart motorways (a) at all times and (b)  when a variable speed limit is in force.

Jesse Norman: The speed cameras used to enforce variable speed limits on smart motorways are not average speed cameras but measure speed at a specific location. It is a decision for the local Police force, which has operational independence in these matters, whether or not to use the cameras to enforce the national speed limit when variable speed limits are not in operation.

A316

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's policy is on classifying the A316 as part of the Strategic Road Network.

Jesse Norman: Principal A-roads within the boundary of the Greater London Authority (GLA), such as the A316, are managed by Transport for London. In the GLA area, only motorways are part of the strategic road network, managed by Highways England.

Taxis: Licensing

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the data sharing arrangements are between licensing authorities on the licensing of (a) hackney carriages and (b) private hire drivers and operators.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to make mandatory the sharing of data on the licensing of hackney carriage and private hire drivers and operators between licencing authorities.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent meetings he has had with (a) local authorities and (b) other external stakeholders on the development of data sharing arrangements on the licensing of hackney carriage and private hire drivers and operators between licencing authorities.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Data sharing arrangements between licensing authorities are a matter for each authority to consider. There have not been any recent meetings between ministers and local authorities or other external stakeholders specifically regarding the development of a data sharing arrangements on the licensing of hackney carriage and private hire vehicle (PHV) drivers, PHV operators between licencing authorities. The Government supports the ‘Licensing of Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Bill 2017-19’ Private Members’ Bill which seeks to mandate the sharing of some licensing information between authorities.

Roads: Stonehenge

Sir Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the prehistoric landscape at Stonehenge of the proposals for a new flyover and tunnel.

Jesse Norman: A principal aim of the scheme is to remove the roads and heavy traffic, with their associated noise and disturbance from the vicinity of the stones and to reunite Stonehenge with its surrounding monuments in their natural chalk downland setting. This involves removing the road and its traffic completely from within sight of the stones, with the locations of the tunnel portals being beyond the visual horizons from Stonehenge. Highways England is carrying out extensive Heritage Impact Assessments to ensure the scheme brings benefits without creating unacceptable effects on the important features of the World Heritage Site. A programme of archaeological surveys has been developed with input from an independent Scientific Committee, which comprises some of the country’s most eminent archaeologists. The project also has a Heritage Monitoring and Advisory Group comprising Historic England, Wiltshire Council Archaeology Service, English Heritage and The National Trust. The Scientific Committee and Advisory Group will continue to have oversight of all the archaeological findings as the scheme develops. Further information about the Scientific Committee’s work can be found at: http://www.a303scientificcommittee.org.uk/

Buses: Licensing

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles will be affected by the proposed changes to Sections 19 and 22 of the Transport Act 1985.

Jesse Norman: The Department does not record this information centrally. However, it is currently consulting on how Regulation 1071/2009 applies to users of section 19 and section 22 permits under the Transport Act 1985, and this serves as a call for evidence as to the impact of these clarifications on community transport operators.The Government's response to the consultation will be accompanied by a full impact assessment.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Renewable Energy

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his policy is on encouraging consumers to source their energy from providers of renewable energy.

Claire Perry: There are a number of suppliers in the GB energy market that offer electricity tariffs backed 100% by renewables sources. Consumers can make an active choice to sign up to these green energy tariffs. Energy is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland.

Batteries: Manufacturing Industries

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy,what representations he has received on the use of child labour in the production of batteries; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Griffiths: I confirm I have not received any representations on the use of child labour in the production of batteries. The UK is a signatory to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; which are voluntary standards intended to promote responsible business conduct by enterprises in all sectors, based in the signatory countries. The Guidelines include a standard on the abolition of child labour. The UK maintains a National Contact Point to promote the Guidelines.

Batteries: Manufacturing Industries

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to encourage companies manufacturing batteries to ban the use of child labour in their supply chains; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Griffiths: The UK is a signatory to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; which are voluntary standards intended to promote responsible business conduct by enterprises in all sectors, based in the signatory countries. The Guidelines include a standard on the abolition of child labour. The UK maintains a National Contact Point to promote the Guidelines. Tackling Modern Slavery and other labour abuses is also a top priority for this Government. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires all large businesses to produce an annual statement setting out the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their business and supply chains. Guidance for business on this is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transparency-in-supply-chains-a-practical-guide

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: EU Law

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which regulations his Department (a) has introduced as a result of EU legislation from 23 June 2016 to date and (b) expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2018 and (ii) 2019; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

Andrew Griffiths: All regulations implementing EU legislation that have been introduced since 2013 can be found on www.legislation.gov.uk. Impact assessments, where available, can also be found here which provide details of costs of the implemented regulations. In 2018, we expect to introduce a further 6 regulations. In 2019, we expect to introduce 6 regulations. However, the exact number is subject to ongoing negotiations.

Business: Environment Protection

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to promote environmental sustainability in businesses.

Claire Perry: Holding answer received on 24 April 2018



The Government is taking significant steps to promote environmental sustainability in businesses and to encourage clean growth in the UK. The Clean Growth Strategy set out ambitious plans to promote sustainability in businesses, including developing a package of measures to improve business energy productivity by at least 20% by 2030. In addition, the Resources and Waste Strategy which is planned to be published later this year, will set out the Government’s approach to increasing resource efficiency and minimising waste across all sectors of the economy.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to support the UK offshore wind industry to produce one third of UK electricity from offshore wind by 2030; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The UK has the largest installed offshore wind capacity in the world, with around 7GW operational. This will rise to around 10GW by 2020, when we expect offshore wind to provide around 10% of the UK’s annual electricity generation. As set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, the Government is working with industry as they develop an ambitious Sector Deal for offshore wind, which could result in 10 gigawatts of new capacity, with the opportunity for additional deployment if this is cost effective, built in the 2020s.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the accuracy of the Offshore Wind Industry Council’s projection that the sector will create 27,000 skilled jobs by 2030; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: In the Clean Growth Strategy, the Government reaffirmed our future support for offshore wind stating that we would improve the route to market for renewable technologies such as offshore wind through:Up to £557 million for further Pot 2 Contract for Difference auctions with the next one planned for spring 2019;Working with industry as they develop an ambitious Sector Deal for offshore wind which could result in 10 gigawatts of new capacity, with the opportunity for additional deployment if this is cost effective, built in the 2020s. No specific assessment has been made on the accuracy of the Offshore Wind Industry Council’s projection.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the potential for offshore wind to deliver significant electricity system cost reductions by 2030; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: Offshore wind costs have fallen significantly over the last few years. The cheapest offshore wind projects in the 2017 Contract for Difference Allocation Round cleared 50% lower than the cheapest offshore wind project in the 2015 Contract for Difference Allocation Round. Going forward, the industry expects offshore wind costs to continue to fall.

Nuclear Power

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the value for money of the Government's new nuclear power programme compared with other alternatives; and if he will make a statement.

Richard Harrington: The published value for money case for HPC details how cost competitive new nuclear is with alternative large scale technologies in the mid-2020s.[1] Having considered this analysis the Secretary of State for BEIS was satisfied that HPC is a good deal for both consumers and investors. An assessment of value for money would also be undertaken for any future proposed new nuclear projects.  [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/621400/Detailed_value_for_money_assessment.pdf

Energy: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that as many as possible (a) new and (b) existing homes reach energy performance certificate band C by 2035.

Claire Perry: The Clean Growth Strategy outlined a number of policies and proposals to help us make progress against Government’s aspiration that as many homes as possible will be upgraded to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable. This included: A commitment to funding the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), until 2022 at a projected cost of £640 million per year, with an increased focus on supporting innovative measures in the scheme, and extending support for home energy efficiency improvements until 2028, at least at the current level of ECO funding. Between 2015 and 2020, ECO will upgrade around a million homes supporting £3.6 billion of investment.Developing a long term trajectory to improve the energy performance standards of privately rented homes, with the aim of upgrading as many as possible to EPC Band C by 2030 where practical, cost-effective and affordable. We will consider options with a view to consulting on this in 2018 and looking at how social housing can meet equivalent standards over the same period.Consulting on strengthening energy performance standards for new and existing homes under Building Regulations, including futureproofing new homes for low carbon heating systems, following the outcome of the independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety, and subject to its conclusions.Seeking evidence on building a market for energy efficiency, including additional measures to improve energy performance of owner occupied homes through a Call for Evidence published alongside the Clean Growth Strategy. This Call for Evidence closed on 9th January 2018.Following an evaluation of the responses, we will publish an action plan setting out our approach to building the market, later in 2018.Driving innovation to bring down the costs of improving homes. As part of this the government launched two new £10 million innovation programmes to develop new and improved energy efficiency and heating technologies to help reduce the cost of improving homes. The funds closed to applicants on 2 January, and we are currently reviewing bids.

Energy: Private Rented Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the long-term trajectory for energy performance standards across the private rented sector.

Claire Perry: As we set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, the Government will look at options for a long term trajectory for the sector, with the aim of as many private rented homes as possible being upgraded to EPC Band C by 2030, where practical, cost-effective and affordable. The Department is currently considering options prior to launching a consultation later this year.

*No heading*

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of energy performance standards in the social housing sector.

Claire Perry: The Clean Growth Strategy set out the Government’s intention to consult on options for setting a trajectory for privately rented homes to be upgraded to Energy Performance Certificate Band C by 2030, and confirmed that we will look at how social housing can meet similar standards to the same timetable. The Strategy noted that, when looking at this, we will need to take account of the findings of the independent public inquiry into the fire at Grenfell Tower and the Government’s separate work looking at wider social housing policy issues. The Regulator of Social Housing Homes Standard sets out the required outcomes registered providers are expected to meet in terms of Decent Homes. A home must meet a number of criteria to be regarded as a Decent Home, including that it has effective heating and insulation. According to the 2016/17 English Housing Survey (EHS), 87% (3.6 million homes) of social housing meets the Decent Homes Standard, up from 71% (2.8 million) in 2006. However, social housing still has significant potential to benefit from energy efficiency improvements to the advantage of tenants, their communities, and their landlords.

Energy: Buildings

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of levels of energy efficiency in (a) new and (b) existing commercial buildings.

Claire Perry: BEIS published the Building Energy Efficiency Survey (BEES) in 2016 which updated and improved the evidence on how energy was used in non-domestic premises across England and Wales. It found that there was 63,160 GWh/year (or 14,750 ktCO2e/year) total energy efficiency abatement potential, representing a 39 per cent reduction from current energy consumption.This assessment informed our approach to energy efficiency in the Clean Growth Strategy (CGS) that set out our ambition to enable business and industry to improve energy efficiency by at least 20% by 2030. Improvements in building energy efficiency are expected to make a significant contribution to this, and the CGS includes commitments to enable businesses to improve energy efficiency in new and existing commercial buildings.

*No heading*

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including energy efficiency in the lending decisions of mortgage companies.

Claire Perry: In the Clean Growth Strategy, the Government set out that we would work with mortgage lenders to develop green mortgage products that take account of the lower lending risk as a result of the reduced energy costs associated with more energy efficient properties. The Government also supported the ‘LENDERS’ project with funding from Innovate UK. The LENDERS project, which reported in 2017, looked at the impact of including more accurate estimates of energy bills in mortgage affordability assessments. Alongside the Clean Growth Strategy, the government published a Call for Evidence on building a market for energy efficiency which included proposals for encouraging lenders to offer green mortgage products. This Call for Evidence closed on 9 January 2018. Following an evaluation of the responses, we will publish an action plan on additional market based measures later in 2018. Following the publication of the Clean Growth Strategy, BEIS and HM Treasury ministers also jointly set up a Green Finance Taskforce, which brought together senior leaders from the finance sector. Their objectives were to help deliver the investment needed to meet the ambitions and commitments set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, whilst consolidating the UK’s leadership in financing international low carbon investment. The Taskforce published their recommendations in March this year, including how to encourage the development of green mortgage products. The government is currently considering these recommendations and will respond in due course. We are already seeing progress, and leadership from within the finance sector. Following the Green Finance Taskforce’s recommendations and the success of their Green Bond, launched in November, Barclays recently launched the first green mortgage product by a major UK lender, which will reward homebuyers who choose to buy an energy efficient new build home with a lower interest rate on their mortgage. This is an encouraging step and I hope other lenders will follow suit.

Housing: Carbon Emissions

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of increasing the use of hydrogen for domestic heating on the level of household emissions.

Claire Perry: The Department is currently undertaking work to strengthen and assess the evidence on the range of potential approaches to decarbonising heat, including on the use of hydrogen. There are a number of technologies with the potential to make a major contribution to decarbonisation. As well as hydrogen, these include, heat pumps, hybrid gas and electric heating systems and district heating networks. I plan to publish a report on the Department’s review of the evidence later this year. The Department has also commissioned the Hy4Heat project which aims to provide essential technical evidence on the use of hydrogen for heat in buildings. This will include developing and testing hydrogen boilers. The project has a total budget of £25m and will run until 2021.

Nuclear Reactors

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Design Acceptance Certificate for the European Pressurised Reactor expires in December 2022.

Richard Harrington: A Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) completes the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) led by the UK’s independent regulators to assess non-site specific (i.e. generic) aspects of new reactor designs. GDA is not a statutory requirement of the nuclear licensing regime and the Office for Nuclear Regulation will only give permission for the start of construction of a nuclear power station based on a site specific safety case as part of the statutory licensing regime.The DAC for the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) was issued on 13 December 2012 and is valid for a period of ten years. Renewal of the DAC is not mandated. ONR expect to complete its assessment of the EPR site-specific safety case for Hinkley Point C in 2018.

Nuclear Reactors

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Design Acceptance Certificate for the European Pressurised Reactor is renewable; and if he will make a statement.

Richard Harrington: A Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) completes the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) led by the UK’s independent regulators to assess non-site specific (i.e. generic) aspects of new reactor designs. GDA is not a statutory requirement of the nuclear licensing regime and any site specific elements of reactor design will be assessed by the Office for Nuclear Regulation as part of a site specific safety case ahead of any construction.A Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) could in principle be renewed if it can be demonstrated that there had been no deviation from the generic safety and security provisions as described in the initial reference design documentation. However, DAC renewal is not mandated and it is noted that ONR expect to complete the assessment of the European Pressurised Reactor site-specific safety case for Hinkley Point C in 2018.

Nuclear Reactors

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether EDF has informed him that it plans to seek a renewal of the Design Acceptance Certificate (DAC) for the European Pressurised Reactor when the current DAC expires; and if he will make a statement.

Richard Harrington: A Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) completes the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) led by the UK’s independent regulators to assess non-site specific (i.e. generic) aspects of new reactor designs. GDA is not a statutory requirement of the nuclear licensing regime and the Office for Nuclear Regulation will only give permission for the start of construction of a nuclear power station based on a site specific safety case as part of the statutory licensing regime.DAC renewal is not mandated and EDF has not informed Government that it plans to seek a renewal. It is noted however that ONR expect to complete the assessment of the European Pressurised Reactor site-specific safety case for Hinkley Point C in 2018.

Nuclear Reactors

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Design Acceptance Certificate for the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) could be used for a re-designed EPR; and if he will make a statement.

Richard Harrington: A Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) completes the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) led by the UK’s independent regulators to assess non-site specific (i.e. generic) aspects of new reactor designs. GDA is not a statutory requirement of the nuclear licensing regime and any site specific elements of EPR design will be assessed by the Office for Nuclear Regulation as part of a site specific safety case ahead of any construction.

Housing: Heating

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for the publication of the analysis of the UK’s off-grid housing stock deemed suitable for using heat pumps as referenced in the Future Framework for Heat in Buildings consultation.

Claire Perry: We have been carrying out analysis to get a better understanding of the off grid housing stock using current available evidence and data from the English Housing Survey and the devolved equivalents. The analysis aims to understand the proportion of off gas grid homes in which heat pumps could provide sufficient levels of comfort. It will form the basis of further research and analysis later this year, which we intend to publish once complete.

Climate Change Convention

Edward Miliband: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for the Committee on Climate Change to complete its review into the implications of the Paris Agreement for the UK’s long-term climate targets.

Claire Perry: The Government will be seeking the advice of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) on this issue after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publishes its Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5oC later this year. We will work with the CCC to agree an appropriate timetable for the provision of their advice.

Energy: Meters

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2018 to Question 133971, for what reasons that answer does not contain information on the difference between the installation cost figures used in the 2016 cost-benefit analysis update and energy suppliers’ current data on installation costs.

Claire Perry: The most recent data on energy suppliers’ installation costs are not directly comparable to the data used in the 2016 Cost-Benefit Analysis. We are analysing the latest data and will ensure that it is provided on a like-for-like basis in the Cost-Benefit Analysis update in 2019, so that valid comparisons can be made.

Tidal Power: Swansea Bay

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he last met with representatives of the Swansea Tidal Lagoon project.

Claire Perry: Meetings between BEIS Ministers and external organisations are published quarterly on the Department’s website.

Climate Change Convention

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to align the UK's domestic climate commitments under the Climate Change Act 2008 with the Paris Agreement during the 2017-2019 Parliamentary Session.

Claire Perry: The Clean Growth Strategy made clear that the Government believes the UK will need to legislate for a net zero emissions target at an appropriate point in the future, to provide legal certainty on where the UK is heading. We will seek the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) advice on the implications of Paris Agreement for the UK’s long-term targets, after the release of the IPCC Special Report later this year.

Climate Change Convention

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to submit a new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) which is separate from the EU's NDC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as required by the Paris Agreement after the UK leaves the EU.

Claire Perry: The UK is firmly committed to the Paris Agreement and to our emissions reduction and climate finance efforts under it. We have demonstrated our commitment domestically – just last week I announced that we would submit our highly praised Clean Growth Strategy as the UK’s long-term strategy to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). I also announced our intention to seek the advice of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) on the implications of the Paris Agreement for the UK’s long-term emissions reduction targets after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publishes its Special Report on 1.5oC later this year. The UK is a party to the UNFCCC individually as well as through the EU and we are bound by all the obligations of the Paris Agreement. This includes the requirement to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions. A decision on the nature of a future UK NDC once we have left the EU is one of a number of issues we are currently considering carefully. We are looking forward to constructive discussions with the EU to ensure that we reach the best deal for the British people and for tackling climate change.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Genocide

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether leaders from the Western Balkans countries who have denied that the Srebrenica massacre was an act of genocide will be attending the Western Balkans summit in the UK in July.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The Government has invited heads of Government from all six Western Balkans countries to the Summit in London in July. We are clear that the Srebrenica massacre was an act of genocide and make that clear in our engagement in the region. We will be working with leaders from the region to address legacy issues from the conflicts of the 1990s in the context of our Summit, including by supporting accountability for war crimes.

UN High-level Conference On Nuclear Disarmament

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to attend the UN General Assembly conference on nuclear disarmament from 14 to 16 May.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​I refer the Honourable member to my answer of 26 April (PQ 136468).

Falkland Islands: Air Routes

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government has provided to interested parties in respect of establishing a second commercial air link to the Falkland Islands.

Sir Alan Duncan: We worked closely with The Falkland Islands Government (FIG) and our Argentine counterparts to agree on an additional flight to the islands. UK and Argentine representatives delivered a joint letter to regional governments notifying them of this. The subsequent commercial process is being managed by the FIG and it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing commercial process.

Nigeria: Abduction

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Government of Nigeria on the return of abductees from (a) Chibok and (b) other parts of that country.

Harriett Baldwin: Following the abductions in Dapchi in February, the Foreign Secretary spoke to Vice President Osinbajo and extended an offer of additional UK assistance. We continue to call for the release of the remaining Chibok girls and all those abducted. Attacks on schools and abductions of children are abhorrent and must stop. It is important that all abductees released or recovered receive appropriate support, including for their families. The UK remains resolute in its support for Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram.

Libya: Slavery

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help tackle modern slavery in Libya.

Alistair Burt: ​The UK is committed to safe, legal and well-managed migration. We need a comprehensive approach, addressing the root causes of migration, as well as their consequences. The Prime Minister has made eradicating modern slavery one of her top foreign policy priorities. Our new £75 million migration programme will specifically target migrants travelling from West Africa via the Sahel to Libya and will provide protection and critical humanitarian support to reduce suffering and exploitation. The UK also supports the Declaration from the EU-Africa Summit to address the situation in Libya, including efforts to sanction people smugglers, and the establishment of a UN-EU-AU Taskforce to facilitate the Assisted Voluntary Return for migrants in Libya. We support further efforts in this area, including by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.I recently discussed this issue with representatives from the Libyan government of National Accord in Tripoli.

North Korea: Nuclear Weapons

Paul Masterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the (a) US administration, (b) Japanese Government and (c) South Korean Government on the planned talks between the US and North Korea.

Mark Field: The Foreign Secretary regularly speaks to his counterparts from the United States, Japan and Republic of Korea to encourage a diplomatic solution to the threat posed by North Korea. The UK welcomes that President Trump has agreed to hold direct talks with Kim Jong Un. We also welcome the positive developments from the inter-Korean Summit held on 27 April.The Foreign Secretary most recently met with US Secretary of State Pompeo at the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels on 27 April. The Foreign Secretary met with Japanese Foreign Minister Kono and the then acting US Secretary of State Sullivan at the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Toronto on 24 April. The G7 meeting focused on tackling global security issues, such as the threat posed by North Korea. Ministers agreed the importance of the upcoming inter-Korean and US-North Korea Summits as an important step to achieve the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.The Foreign Secretary last met ROK Foreign Minister Kang at the 19 March EU Foreign Affairs Council where they agreed the importance of maintaining the maximum pressure campaign to support talks.

West Bank: Waste Disposal

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the transfer of (a) urban and industrial by-products and (b) hazardous waste from Israel to the West Bank.

Alistair Burt: We have not made a recent assessment of this issue. The Government's broader concerns about the impact of the occupation, including the humanitarian and environmental effects, are well known to the Israeli authorities. We will continue to make representations on these matters.

*No heading*

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Government of Eritrea on respect for (a) freedom of religion and (b) human rights.

Harriett Baldwin: Our Ambassador and EU counterparts have consistently called for the release of all prisoners detained for religious beliefs or, as a minimum, that they are brought before a court for public hearing and fair trial, allowing them to defend themselves against any charge. We will continue to raise our concerns on this and other human rights issues with the Government of Eritrea.

Jordan: Military Aid

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what military assistance in the form of (a) funding and (b) training his Department provided to Jordan in (i) 2005, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2017.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) did not provide any direct funding to the Jordanian military in 2005, 2015 or 2017.On 27 January 2015, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs laid a Departmental Minute proposing the gifting of non-lethal equipment to the Jordanian Armed Forces, comprising five 4x4 vehicles with ballistic protection to use in efforts to manage insecurity on the Jordan-Syria border, including cross-border smuggling activity. The value of these vehicles was £386,375.70. Parliament approved the gift on 25 February 2015. In the 2017/18 financial year the FCO contributed £598,013.26 towards a project to provide training and mentoring to the Jordanian Armed Forces on the use and maintenance of equipment to protect the Jordan-Syria border.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many of his Department's invitations to tender have received no bidders in the last two years.

Sir Alan Duncan: During 2016 and 2017, 665 invitations to tender were listed on the Bravo Solution portal with contract values of £25k and over. 48 tenders did not receive bids. ​

Armenia: Elections

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Armenian Government on the recent elections in that country.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office engages regularly with the Government of Armenia at all levels, including in relation to the recent elections in that country.

Cuba: Human Rights and Religious Freedom

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations his Department has made to the Government of Cuba on freedom of religion and human rights in that country.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​Ministers, the British Ambassador and senior officials raise human rights issues, including freedom of religion, when opportunities arise in meetings with Cuban Government counterparts. Most recently, the Head of Latin America Department discussed freedom of religion in a meeting with the Cuban Ambassador on 26 April.

Kosovo: Rendition

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations has he made to the Government of Kosovo on the rendition of six Turkish citizens from that country to Turkey; and if she will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​Our Embassy in Pristina has raised with the Government of Kosovo the arrest and deportation of six Turkish nationals from Kosovo to Turkey. We have made clear to the Government of Kosovo that as a supporter of democratic values, Kosovo must prioritise the Rule of Law and international human rights standards in all its institutions.

Afghanistan: Peace Negotiations

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the outcomes of the conference on peace in Afghanistan held in Tashkent on 26-27 March 2018.

Boris Johnson: The Tashkent conference helps maintain momentum following the the Kabul Process meeting in February at which President Ghani offered talks with the Taliban without preconditions. The Tashkent conference also helped boost ties between Afghanistan and Central Asia. The Prime Minister's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan attended on behalf of the UK.

Afghanistan: Peace Negotiations

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the Afghan Government's progress on securing bilateral peace talks with the Taliban.

Boris Johnson: We welcome President Ghani's offer for talks with the Taliban without preconditions, as have all key regional and international stakeholders and at the United Nations. We believe that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan, and that a political process, owned and led by Afghans, is the only way to a better future for the country. We support the approach to peace taken by the Afghan Government, including the successful meeting of the Kabul Process on 28 February.The Taliban have yet to respond publicly to President Ghani's offer. It is important that this bold initiative is supported even in the face of violence. The UK - along with all regional and international partners - continue to call upon the Taliban to engage. They must face the fact that continued war is not in the interests of the Afghan people; that the war cannot be won; and that the route to address any grievances is through dialogue rather than violence

Afghanistan: Electoral Register

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the progress of the voter registration process in Afghanistan since the launch of that process by the country's Independent Election Commission on 14 April 2018.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the progress of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission towards completing the process of issuing the necessary ID documents to prospective voters in advance of forthcoming parliamentary and district council elections in that country.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications of recent attacks by militant groups on voter-registration centres in (a) Kabul and (b) the Afghan provinces for the prospects of (i) registering the target number of voters within the planned timescales and (ii) completing the voter-registration process and the elections themselves in a safe and secure environment.

Boris Johnson: We welcomed the announcement by Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) that parliamentary and district elections will be held on 20 October 2018. The UK and other donors are working with the IEC, the Government of Afghanistan and civil society to support the electoral process. A new voter registration system is currently being rolled out: this is a challenging task.Afghanistan continues to face significant challenges on security. The relevant Afghan authorities are receiving support with security planning for the voter registration process and the elections from NATO Resolute Support Mission, which the UK is part of. The Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific strongly condemned the attack on a voter registration centre in Kabul on 22 April. President Ghani has pledged to increase security at voter registration centres across the country. We are monitoring progress closely on voter registration but it is too early to make a full assessment at this stage.We call upon all stakeholders to work together to implement the essential electoral reform and allow the Afghan people to have their rightful say in the future of their country.

Togo: Demonstrations

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his counterpart in Togo on reports of the use of excessive force against people participating in peaceful demonstrations in that country.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterpart in Togo on restrictions recently imposed on the rights of Togolese citizens to participate in peaceful demonstrations and to stage such demonstrations (a) on week days and (b) for the duration of a dialogue between the Government and the opposition.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the progress made towards resolving the political crisis in Togo through dialogue between the Government and opposition; and what steps he is taking to support such efforts.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans the Government has to help ensure that (a) forthcoming legislative elections in Togo and (b) the proposed referendum on constitutional term limits to the Togolese Presidency are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner.

Boris Johnson: Political dialogue under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States, and mediated by the President of Ghana, is ongoing. We support this regionally led effort to broker a path towards elections in Togo. The mediators have recommended that all parties refrain from protest while the dialogue continues. We encourage both Government and the opposition parties to continue with the dialogue process to reach an agreed political solution, and urge all parties to avoid violence.

Burkina Faso: Armed Conflict

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in Burkina Faso on (a) recent attacks by militants on schools and teachers in the north of that country and (b) the subsequent suspension of all school classes in the country's Soum province.

Boris Johnson: I have not had recent discussions with my Burkina Faso opposite number. However, we condemn the recent attacks by militants on schools and teachers in Burkina Faso. The UK’s primary objective in the Sahel, including Burkino Faso, is to support the region towards long term stability. The Prime Minister’s announcement in January of additional security and development assistance for the Sahel demonstrates the UK’s commitment to countering terrorism and the drivers of instability in the region. I also recently enhanced the UK’s diplomatic presence in the Sahel region by announcing the opening of a new office in Chad on 21 March.

Guinea-Bissau: Politics and Government

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans the Government has to help ensure that parliamentary elections due to be held in Guinea-Bissau in November 2018 are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner.

Boris Johnson: We welcome the announcement of legislative elections to be held in Guinea Bissau in November, in line with the constitution. The UK supports the efforts of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau, whose mandate is to focus on political mediation and support free, fair and transparent elections. We welcome in particular the role played the Economic Community of West African States in this regard, and specifically to secure agreement to a road map for elections later this year and to mediate between the parties in Guinea-Bissau.

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Yemini counterpart following recent reports of threats made by representatives of the Houthis against the Bahais in that country.

Alistair Burt: We are concerned by reports of the recent comments made about the Baha’i community by representatives of the Houthis. The Government of Yemen does not have any influence over the activities of the Houthis, who overthrew the legitimate Government of Yemen in Sana’a in 2015. We work with our international partners to raise concerns about the situation of the Baha’i community with the Houthis. We urge compliance with the UN Human Rights Council resolution of September 2017 which calls for the release of all Baha’i in detention and end to harassment of the community. We remain closely engaged with representatives of the Baha'i community in the UK. I met their representatives most recently in January, and the Minister for Human Rights held a similar meeting in March.

Israel: Palestinians

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterpart in Israel on allowing medical supplies from (a) Israel and (b) elsewhere to be delivered to Gaza.

Alistair Burt: Our Ambassador to Israel most recently raised medical permits and the importance of protestors receiving medical treatment with the Israeli authorities on 24 April. The UK supports the UN Access Coordination Unit, which works with the Israeli Government, the Palestinian Authority and aid agencies to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian goods including some medical equipment and supplies, into Gaza.

USA: Official Visits

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which Government ministers President Trump will be meeting during his upcoming visit to the UK on 13 July 2018.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​The arrangements for the visit by President Trump to the UK in July are yet to be confirmed.

USA: Official Visits

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons President Trump's visit to the UK on 13 July 2018 will be a working visit and not an official state visit.

Sir Alan Duncan: We look forward to the working visit by President Trump in July. The President will be visiting the UK following the NATO summit in Brussels. It will be a timely opportunity for bilateral discussions between him and the Prime Minister. Plans for the State Visit remain unchanged – an offer has been extended and accepted but dates have not yet been arranged.

Department for Exiting the European Union

European Court of Justice

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the implementation of European Court of Justice judgments during the implementation period after the UK leaves the EU.

Suella Braverman: We have agreed with the EU that for the implementation period, we will continue to use the existing EU mechanisms for supervision and enforcement - and we will continue to follow Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) judgments. This is necessary so that there is only one set of changes for businesses and people. This does not change the fact that in the long term, outside of the EU, the UK will no longer be under the direct jurisdiction of the CJEU. We have also agreed that the Withdrawal Agreement will establish a new Joint Committee through which both parties will be able to discuss and resolve any concerns that arise during the implementation period. It will, for example, provide the UK with a means to raise concerns regarding new laws, which we consider might be harmful to our interests. This will help ensure the implementation period operates smoothly, allowing us to resolve any issues promptly.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Sick Leave

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.

Suella Braverman: As a new Department DExEU is not in a position to provide information prior to 2016/17. In 2016/17, no staff were off sick due to mental illness or stress and fewer than 10 individuals were absent in 2017/18 due to stress or mental health conditions and therefore the Department is not in a position to release this information as individuals may be identifiable. The Civil Service has set out five priorities for the health and wellbeing of its employees, including priorities in relation to physical and mental wellbeing. In addition, the Civil Service has also committed to being a leading employer on mental health support, in line with the recommendations set out in the recently published independent review Thriving At Work. Health and Wellbeing forms part of the Department for Exiting the European Union’s commitment to making the Department a great place to work. The Department is committed to reducing work related absence due to mental health illness and has a number of services and initiatives in place to support members of staff suffering from such conditions. To date 32 DExEU staff have been trained by Mental Health First Aid England as mental health champions and staff also have access to the Employee Assistance Programmes. The Department has a dedicated mental health and wellbeing group who have been leading on a number of wellbeing activities across the Department to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of staff employed in the Department. This includes: in February 2017 the Department signed up to the Time for Change pledge to demonstrate the Department’s commitment to reducing the stigma attached to mental health, and marking world mental health day with a panel discussion sharing mental health and wellbeing experiences.

Department of Health and Social Care

Maternity Services

Maria Caulfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what services and Government funding are available for women (a) in need of support throughout a crisis pregnancy and (b) after experiencing an abortion.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Impartial National Health Service or local authority funded information and support for women who are uncertain whether to continue with a pregnancy is available from general practice, sexual and reproductive health services and abortion clinics. All women requesting an abortion should be offered the opportunity to discuss their options and choices with, and receive support from, a trained pregnancy counsellor. Following an abortion all women should be able to access post-abortion support or counselling.

Obesity

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to offer an advanced service for community pharmacies to provide weight management to tackle obesity.

Steve Brine: NHS England commissions National Health Service pharmaceutical services, of which advanced services are a category where community pharmacies can choose to provide the service as specified if they meet the necessary requirements. Most public health services, like weight management services, are commissioned locally by local authorities, according to need. A number of community pharmacies, in particular, Healthy Living Pharmacies (HLPs), have been commissioned locally to deliver weight management services. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework and NHS pharmaceutical services commissioned by NHS England align with one another; for example the New Medicine Service and Medicine Use Review service provide opportunities for pharmacists to discuss public health interventions including weight management. HLPs with qualified health champions on site use appropriate interactions in the pharmacy as an opportunity for promoting healthy choices including conversations about weight management. The growth in HLPs has been encouraged by inclusion as one of the criteria for a quality payment, such that there are now over 9,400 HLPs in England.

General Practitioners

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting times were for GP appointments in the 10 (a) most deprived and (b) least deprived areas of England in each of the past 10 years for which information is available,.

Steve Brine: Information on the average waiting time for general practitioner (GP) appointments is not collected or held centrally at either a local or national level. The GP patient survey, a questionnaire sent to a sample of registered patients in England, found that in 2017, 70.8% of patients reported they were able to see or speak to someone at time they wanted or sooner. The Government is committed to improving access to general practice. By October 2018, everyone will have access to routine evening and weekend appointments.

General Practitioners

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the average number of GPs per income quintile of the population in England in each of the most recent 10 years for which data is available.

Steve Brine: The requested information is presented in the attached table. The population of England is divided into deprivation bands based on income (quintiles 1-5, with 1 being the most deprived and 5 the least deprived). These bands contain approximately the same population numbers. The number of general practitioners working in each of these quintiles is presented for every year between 2008 and 2017.



PQ137010 attached document
(Word Document, 33.6 KB)

Dental Health: Low Incomes

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the extent of DIY dentistry among low-income households.

Steve Brine: The Department has not made an assessment of the extent of DIY dentistry among low-income households. NHS England has a legal duty to commission primary care National Health Service dental services to meet local needs and to help patients who cannot find a local dentist taking on new patients for routine NHS care or who require urgent emergency dental treatment. Patients in this situation can contact NHS England’s Customer Contact Centre for assistance. All those under the age of 18, under 19 and in full time education, who are pregnant or have given birth in the previous twelve months, or those on specified benefits are exempt from charges and receive free NHS dental treatment. In addition, those on a low income may be eligible for full or partial help through the NHS Low Income Scheme.

In Vitro Fertilisation

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in how many IVF cycles where 20 or more eggs were collected fresh embryo transfers were carried out in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015, (d) 2016 and (e) 2017.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in how many IVF cycles where 15 or more eggs were collected were fresh embryo transfers were carried out in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015, (d) 2016 and (e) 2017.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information requested is shown in the following tables: Stimulated and non-stimulated cycles 20 or more fresh eggs were collected115 or more fresh eggs were collected Total number of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycles2IVF cycles where embryos were transferredTotal number of IVF cycles2IVF cycles where embryos were transferred20133,9382,72810,1188,13020143,8722,51910,1487,74820154,3192,45210,6777,46720164,3912,22610,5606,84820174,7242,26711,0896,895Stimulated cycles only 20 or more fresh eggs were collected115 or more fresh eggs were collected Total number of IVF cycles2IVF cycles where embryos were transferredTotal number of IVF cycles2IVF cycles where embryos were transferred20133,9272,72010,0948,11220143,8712,51910,1417,74720154,3162,45010,6707,46320164,3882,22410,5556,84420174,7192,26411,0806,888Source: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Register. Data as at 22 January 2018. Notes: 1The figures for 20 or more eggs collected are also included in the figures given for 15 or more eggs collected. 2Includes all reasons for the IVF cycle taking place, including treatment, egg share, donation, research, egg storage, embryo storage and undefined reasons.

Abortion: Misoprostol

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing women to take misoprostol at home; and whether abortion clinics provide facilities to allow women to remain at the clinic until the process has finished.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government’s priority is to ensure that women who require abortion services have access to safe, high-quality care. Abortions in England must be performed under the legal framework set by the Abortion Act 1967. We are not currently in a position to recommend that the home be approved as a class of place under Section 1(3)(a) of the Abortion Act in England. However, we are keeping the position under review, including reviewing the available evidence, and having regard to the ongoing legal proceedings concerning home use in Scotland. After taking misoprostol in a National Health Service hospital or approved independent sector clinic, women may choose to return to the privacy of their own home to complete the procedure. When it is necessary for the woman to remain in the clinic the appropriate arrangements should be made to facilitate this.

Perinatal Mortality

Maria Caulfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health  and Social Care, how many Health Service Investigation Branch investigations into late-term stillbirths were (a) undertaken and (b) completed in 2017.

Maria Caulfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what date the Health Service Investigation Branch took responsibility for investigating avoidable baby deaths; and what estimate he has made of the annual caseload in each of the next three years.

Maria Caulfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether parents will be involved in Health Service Investigation Branch investigations of avoidable baby deaths; and whether evidence collected during such investigations will be shared with parents.

Caroline Dinenage: The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) began work in April 2017 to conduct high-level investigations of serious patient safety incidents in the National Health Service in England with a specific focus on system-wide learning and improvement. In November 2017, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced that, from April 2018, HSIB would investigate all cases of early neonatal deaths, term intrapartum stillbirths and cases of severe brain injury in babies, as well as all cases of maternal death in England. HSIB did not conduct investigations in these areas in 2017. The new investigative approach will begin in a single region from April 2018 and rollout to all areas of England will be completed by the end of March 2019. It is estimated that there are approximately 1,000 cases of birth-related deaths or serious brain injuries in babies in England every year. The expectation is that the learning from investigations will spur system improvements leading to fewer deaths and injuries in the future. The Secretary of State has been clear that the HSIB maternity investigations will involve patients and families in investigations. In carrying out the maternity investigations, the HSIB will consult and seek evidence or information from the patient, family members and staff involved in the care. In addition, the HSIB will share draft reports with family members, inviting comment, and provide family members with the final report.

Colorectal Cancer

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the number of NHS professionals working in (a) endoscopy and (b) on screening for bowel cancer for men and women between the age of 50 and 74.

Steve Brine: Health Education England (HEE) developed the Cancer Workforce Plan in partnership with NHS England and its Five Year Forward partners. It sets out a delivery plan that ensures the National Health Service in England has the right numbers of skilled staff to provide high quality care and services to cancer patients at each stage in their care – from accurate early diagnosis and treatment to living with and beyond cancer and end of life care. The recommendations from this plan propose an increase in a number of occupations and roles relevant to endoscopy and the range of professionals who will need to work together to ensure successful screening for bowel cancer. The plan highlights the following immediate actions to make better use of existing supply, including: - HEE was already planning to invest in an additional 746 consultants working in cancer by 2021. We have identified system wide actions such as improved retention to secure a further 535, producing a total of 1,281 full time equivalent (FTE) more consultants working in cancer by 2021 (an estimated 21% increase from 2016), including 316 more gastroenterologists, 243 FTE more oncologists and 94 FTE additional histopathologists;- HEE will invest in 200 additional clinical endoscopists to support an increase in capacity for earlier diagnosis by 2021 (in addition to the 200 currently committed, a 100% increase); and- HEE will also establish a working group with the Royal College of Pathologists to explore ways of expanding reporting pathologists to increase diagnostic and dissecting capacity.

Cancer

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients are treated within the target time for cancer referrals.

Steve Brine: NHS England publishes quarterly performance data on cancer waiting times standards. This includes the numbers of patients treated within the 62-day urgent referral to a first treatment for cancer 85%. Latest 2017-18 quarterly year to date data for 62-day urgent referral to a first treatment for cancer is provided in the table below. Two Month (62 days) Wait from GP Urgent Referral to a First Treatment for CancerOperational Standard = 85%QuarterlyTotalWithin StandardOutside StandardPerformance (%)2017/18 Q136,82630,0316,79581.5%2017/18 Q238,10231,3246,77882.2%2017/18 Q337,49731,1236,37483.0%Source: NHS England Statistical work areas

Cot Deaths: Air Pollution

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with clinical bodies on a possible causal link between cot death and air pollution.

Steve Brine: The Department has not held any discussions with clinical bodies on the link between cot death and air pollution.

Asperger's Syndrome

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome; and what the proportion of such people is in each age group and gender.

Caroline Dinenage: Information on the number of people diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome; and what the proportion of such people is in each age group and gender is not collected centrally.

Prostate Cancer

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with clinical bodies on establishing a genetic cure for prostate cancer.

Steve Brine: My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care meets many prostate cancer stakeholders to discuss a variety of issues.

Cardiovascular System

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with clinical bodies on the effect of drinking coffee on heart health.

Steve Brine: My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has not held any recent meetings with clinical bodies on the specific topic of the effect of drinking coffee on heart health. A wide range of information on diet and heart health is available via the NHS Choices website, and NHS Choices recommends a healthy, balanced diet low in fat and sugar, with plenty of fruit and vegetables, combined with regular physical activity.

HIV Infection: Vaccination

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for a new HIV vaccine to be available on the NHS.

Steve Brine: There is currently no licensed vaccine against HIV or acquired immune deficiency syndrome. It is therefore not possible to determine any timetable for a new HIV vaccine to be available on the National Health Service.

Headaches: Vaccination

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the NHS has to make available a monthly injection for the treatment of migraine.

Steve Brine: The Department is aware of the findings of a recent trial to evaluate the effectiveness of monthly injections of erenumab in people affected by migraine. Whilst the results of the trial suggested that the injections could reduce the number of migraines experienced by sufferers, the trial authors also stated that further research would be needed to determine the long-term safety of erenumab and the durability of its effects in patients. In order to become routinely available on the National Health Service, this migraine treatment would have to fully demonstrate its safety and efficacy, receive appropriate licensing and be approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Analgesics

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have died or been admitted to hospital as a result of taking pain-killers in the last 12 months.

Stephen Barclay: Data on deaths is collected by the Office for National Statistics and is not centrally held by the Department. However, figures for admissions where the primary cause was poisoning with a chemical that may be considered a painkiller are given in the following table and broken down by chemical type. A count of finished admission episodes (FAEs)1, with a primary diagnosis2 of poisoning due to painkillers3 from the provisional data April 2017 to February 20184,5 Primary Diagnosis and Description2017/18 (April 2017 to February 2018)T39.0Poisoning: Salicylates1,148T39.1Poisoning: 4-Aminophenol derivatives38,162T39.2Poisoning: Pyrazolone derivatives11T39.3Poisoning: Other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID)4,082T39.4Poisoning: Antirheumatics, not elsewhere classified5T39.8Poisoning: Other nonopioid analgesics and antipyretics, not elsewhere classified175T39.9Poisoning: Nonopioid analgesic, antipyretic and antirheumatic, unspecified42T40.0Poisoning: Opium12T40.1Poisoning: Heroin1,792T40.2Poisoning: Other opioids8,004T40.3Poisoning: Methadone322T40.4Poisoning: Other synthetic narcotics2,528T40.5Poisoning: Cocaine1,184T40.6Poisoning: Other and unspecified narcotics514T40.7Poisoning: Cannabis (derivatives)321T40.8Poisoning: Lysergide (LSD)91T40.9Poisoning: Other and unspecified psychodysleptics (hallucinogens)43T41.0Poisoning: Inhaled anaesthetics11T41.1Poisoning: Intravenous anaesthetics2T41.2Poisoning: Other and unspecified general anaesthetics163T41.3Poisoning: Local anaesthetics24T41.4Poisoning: Anaesthetic, unspecified2T41.5Poisoning: Therapeutic gases1 Total58,639Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS Digital Notes: 1Finished admission episodesA FAE is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period. 2Primary diagnosisThe primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and 7 prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. 3Poisoning due to painkillersICD-10 Clinical codes relating to Poisoning due to painkillers:T39 - Poisoning by nonopioid analgesics, antipyretics and antirheumaticsT40 - Poisoning by narcotics and psychodysleptics (hallucinogens)T41 - Poisoning by anaesthetics and therapeutic gases 4Assessing growth through time (Inpatients)HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in National Health Service practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care. 5Provisional dataThe data is provisional and may be incomplete or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final dataset. This shortfall will be most pronounced in the final month of the latest period, i.e. November from the (month 9) April to November extract. It is also probable that clinical data are not complete, which may in particular affect the last two months of any given period. There may also be errors due to coding inconsistencies that have not yet been investigated and corrected.

Social Services: Hemsworth

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,  what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of social care capacity in the Hemsworth constituency.

Caroline Dinenage: Commissioning social care is a matter for local authorities who are best placed to understand the needs of local people and communities, and how best to meet them. This includes understanding local needs for residential and nursing care home beds. For this reason, the Care Act 2014 placed duties on local authorities to shape their local markets so that there is an adequate supply of provision which ensures all adult social care service users have a choice of high quality services. Hemsworth constituency is in Wakefield local authority. Wakefield’s number of care home beds has been stable at around 2,800 over the past five years, whilst its number of domiciliary care agencies has grown by around 25%. The Government has given councils access to up to £9.4 billion more dedicated funding for social care over three years. The action we have taken means that overall, councils are able to increase spending on adult social care in real terms for each of the three years from 2017/18.

Cancer

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Australian government on proposals for the Universal Cancer Databank.

Steve Brine: The Government has not engaged in direct discussions with representatives of the Australian Government on proposals for a Universal Cancer Databank. The Department has however engaged closely with the Eliminate Cancer Initiative on this matter, who have engaged directly with the Australian Government.

NHS: Pensions

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether newly established wholly owned subsidiary companies in the NHS which apply for access to the NHS Pension Scheme will have their applications granted.

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government issues (a) guidance and (b) advice to newly established wholly owned subsidiary companies in the NHS on whether they should apply for access to the NHS Pension Scheme.

Stephen Barclay: There is a requirement under HM Treasury’s New Fair Deal policy for staff who are compulsorily transferred from the National Health Service to a wholly owned subsidiary to be allowed continuing access to the NHS Pension Scheme. Whether or not to apply for access in relation to new starters is a matter for the wholly owned subsidiary company and its parent foundation trust. Any applications received from wholly owned subsidiary companies will be considered on their merits in accordance with the Secretary of State’s powers under section 25 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 (a)1. Note:1The Public Service Pensions Act 2013 confers powers to the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme. For the 1995 and 2008 schemes, powers are conferred by sections 7(1) and (3) of the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1967(a).

Department of Health and Social Care: Diaries

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many page views there were of his Department's Ministerial diaries in each of the last 12 months.

Caroline Dinenage: Between 30 June 2017 and 29 April 2018, the Department’s data on external Ministerial meetings on Gov.uk was viewed on 802 occasions.

Palliative Care

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what targets have for the 2018-19 mandate to NHS England to increase the proportion of people identified as likely to be in their last year of life.

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has made on the commitment in the mandate to NHS England for 2017-18 to identify metrics to assess quality and choice in end of life care.

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the commitment to identify metrics to assess quality and choice in end of life care in the Government's mandate to NHS England for 2017-18 was not included in the Government's mandate to NHS England for 2018-19.

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the National Survey of Bereaved people was discontinued; and whether he has plans to collect that data by a different method.

Caroline Dinenage: In the 2017-18 Mandate to NHS England we asked for the identification of metrics to assess quality and choice in end of life care. As a result, we will shortly have in place a new indicator to measure the proportion of people with three or more emergency admissions in their final 90 days of life, which will help us assess how well patients with end of life care needs are being supported by local health and care services out of hospital and in the community. The 2017-18 objective was met and therefore did not feature in the 2018-19 Mandate. For 2018-19, the Government’s Mandate asks NHS England to increase the percentage of people identified as likely to be in their last year of life, so that their end of life care can be improved by personalising it according to their needs and preferences at an earlier stage. NHS England will use the Quality Outcomes Framework to demonstrate such an increase by looking at the percentage of people who are on the general practitioner register for supportive and palliative care, and consider expected levels based on local populations Currently the national English average is 0.37%, it is anticipated this figure will increase in the 2018/19 period. Further work will also be undertaken to develop indicators that will enable NHS England to scrutinise the effectiveness of local health economies in delivering choice and quality in end of life care. Since 2012 the National Survey of Bereaved People (VOICES) survey has provided valuable insight into the quality of care delivered to people in the last three months of their lives, highlighting variations in the quality of care delivered in different areas of the country and to different groups of patients. Following publication of the last set of survey results in June 2016, NHS England held a consultation on the future of the VOICES survey to seek views on the approach and relevance of the survey to ensure that it remained fit for purpose. Whilst the response showed that the VOICES survey remained a valuable tool, key amongst its findings were that the majority of respondents indicated that the VOICES survey would be more helpful if the sample size were made large enough to report at a local commissioner level. Following this, work was undertaken to revise the survey and consider approaches to a larger sample size and then put in place arrangements to re-commission the VOICES survey. NHS England has been involved in discussions with the Office for National Statistics, which collects the death registration data used to identify survey recipients, about arrangements for access to the data for the new survey. Changes to the safeguarding arrangements on data-sharing, designed to ensure any concerns about care raised via the survey can be appropriately investigated, have resulted in delays to commencing the new VOICES survey. Work is ongoing to resolve this matter.

Colorectal Cancer: Screening

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of reducing the bowel cancer screening age to 50 on a more effective prognosis of that condition; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Brine: Using existing evidence and modelling techniques the United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has consulted on changes to the current bowel screening programme - whether bowel scope and faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) can be offered as a combination or if FIT is robust enough to be the primary screen test from the age of 50 years. A three month public consultation closed on 7 April. The UK NSC will make a recommendation following its meeting in June. If any changes are to be made to an existing screening programme this will follow the UK NSC’s published evidence review process which can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-nsc-evidence-review-process

Patients: Transport

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to encourage Clinical Commissioning Groups to fund transport for vulnerable and disabled patients to events supported by their own social prescribing schemes.

Steve Brine: NHS England advises that the operation and use for non-emergency patient transport services is a matter for local commissioners – including transport services to support vulnerable and disabled patients to social prescribing schemes.

Medicine: Students

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many medical students there were in each year since 2011 excluding the additional (a) 500 places introduced in  October 2018 and (b) 1000 places introduced in October 2019.

Stephen Barclay: The following table shows Office for Students (OfS) analysis of Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data for the total number of students studying pre-clinical undergraduate medical courses in England from 2012 to 2015. Number of undergraduate medical students by academic yearYear course started2012201320142015Number of medical students32,16531,60531,41031,100Source: OfS analysis of HESA dataNotes:- These data are a full-person equivalent headcount of undergraduate students at all publicly funded providers in England, studying medicine full-time.- Students on graduate entry medical courses are included in these counts.- Each number is rounded to the nearest five.- The Department does not hold data for the year 2011.- Data for the year 2016 is expected to be released in July 2018.- OfS was formerly known as the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Nurses: Schools

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent school nurses there were in each January since January 2010.

Jackie Doyle-Price: School nurses are commissioned by local authorities and can be employed by a range of provider organisations including health trusts and local authorities themselves. Our best data comes from the National Health Service electronic staff record (ESR) which does not cover the complete range of these organisations. As a result, it is not possible to provide accurate data on the total size of the school nurse workforce. The ESR data in the table below presents statistics on school nurses employed by NHS trusts in England only: NHS Hospital and Community Health Services: Qualified nurses working in the area of school nursing in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England as at 30 January each specified year full- time equivalent (fte).  All registered (qualified) nurses working in the care setting of school nursing (fte)of which qualified school nurses (fte)January 20103,0261,121January 20112,9651,057January 20122,8491,110January 20132,7211,113January 20142,7751,104January 20152,7751,098January 20162,6931,069January 20172,5531,092January 20182,3321,058

Contraceptives: Clinics

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the availability of appointments for women at contraception clinics in England and Wales.

Steve Brine: The Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access sexual health services, including free provision of contraception. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning sexual health clinics based on local population need. The location and opening times of clinics are for local determination. Sexual and Reproductive Health Profiles have been developed by Public Health England to support local authorities, public health leads and other interested parties to monitor the sexual and reproductive health of their population and the contribution of local public health related systems. The Department closely monitors the range of indicators and outcomes at national level. The provision of contraception services in Wales is a matter for the Welsh Government.

Health Professions: Training

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to promote healthcare courses to school leavers.

Stephen Barclay: The Department working closely with Health Education England, NHS England, NHS Improvement and Skills for Care is planning marketing campaigns to increase recruitment and improve retention across the health and care system. The campaigns will drive recruitment and improve retention by reminding potential recruits including those considering a future career in the National Health Service of the values and opportunities presented by a career in public service. Health Education England also run a health careers website promoting the NHS as a career and can be accessed at the following link: https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/CAREER-PLANNING

Hospices

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what representations he has received from the hospice movement on the effect of proposed increases in NHS pay; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Barclay: My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received two written representations from the hospice sector; raising concerns about the potential increase in their costs if they choose to increase pay in line with the proposed Agenda for Change pay rates. The Secretary of State has received one letter from a group of Chief Executives representing Hospice UK, Marie Curie and Together for Short Lives. He has also received representation from St John’s Hospice, Lancaster.

Hospices

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of proposed NHS pay increases on voluntary sector hospices.

Stephen Barclay: The proposed Agenda for Change pay framework, which includes contract reform and pay awards over three years, is currently out to consultation with the National Health Service trades unions and the outcome will be known in June. We are considering carefully the impact of the agreement on non-NHS organisations such as hospices that may be affected by the proposed deal however no decisions have been made. Staff in hospices do a fantastic job in delivering world-class care and the Department remains fully committed to improving palliative and end of life care.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was to access Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in each local authority area in each of the last three years for which data is available.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department does not hold the data in the format requested.

Department of Health and Social Care: Plastics

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to reduce its use of single-use plastics .

Caroline Dinenage: In our 25 Year Environment plan the Government outlined a range of measures on how we will reduce the amount of plastic in circulation through reducing demand for single-use plastic. This included a commitment to removing all consumer single use plastics from the central government estate offices.

Department for International Development

Department for International Development: Religious Freedom

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many full-time equivalent officials in her Department work on the promotion of freedom of religion and belief.

Alistair Burt: The FCO leads on the promotion of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). DFID’s contribution on the promotion of FoRB is part of the work of many DFID staff around the world and would not be possible to quantify. All DFID interventions must include analysis of the different needs, rights and patterns of discrimination due to many factors including religion. DFID’s policy on FoRB is led at an official level by the Deputy Director of Inclusive Societies Department and supported by 1.2 full-time equivalent officials.

Department for International Development: Religious Freedom

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, in which countries full-time or full-time equivalent DFID officials are employed to work on freedom of religion or belief.

Alistair Burt: DFID interventions must include analysis of the different needs, rights and patterns of discrimination due to many factors including religion. DFID officials are employed to undertake this analysis as part of their day-to-day work in all of the countries where we have country offices. The full list of countries in which DFID operates can be found on the following website https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/

UNRWA

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what amount of funding the UK provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017.

Alistair Burt: The amount of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in 2015 and 2016 is given in the table below. This data is published each year in the Statistics on International Development (SID) publication. Figures for 2017 will be released next year.The UK is unequivocally committed to supporting Palestinian refugees across the region. Over the course of the 2017/18 financial year, the UK provided around £50 million to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), assisting in their provision of essential services including basic education to around 500,000 children, health services for around 3 million Palestinian refugees and supporting Palestinian refugees from Syria. (£ millions)20152016Bilateral ODA through Multilateral30.021.0Core Multilateral ODA34.033.4Total UK ODA to UNRWA64.054.4Source: Statistics for International Development 2013-2016 ODA figures are produced only on a calendar year basis in line with the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation, Development Assistance Committee definitions.Bilateral ODA through multilateral is funding to multilateral organisations for specific programmes or for specific countries. In this case, bilateral ODA through multilateral refers UK contributions to UNRWA’s Emergency Appeals. Core multilateral ODA describes un-earmarked funds from the UK which are pooled with other donors’ funding and disbursed as part of the core budget of the multilateral organisation, which is UNRWA’s Programme Budget in this case.

Syria: Refugees

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government supports the right of Syrian refugees voluntarily to return to Syria.

Alistair Burt: The UK is committed to ensuring that any refugee returns to Syria are voluntary, safe, with dignity, and in line with international law. We do not support any forced returns before Syria or parts of Syria are assessed as safe by the UN, which it is yet to do so.

Developing Countries: Energy

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2018 to Question 126095 on Developing Countries: Energy, if he will publish (a) companies, (b) locations and (c) funding allocated in respect of the programme; and whether he has plans to fund additional projects.

Harriett Baldwin: DFID funding of Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) supports companies in Ghana (Clean Team), Bangladesh (Gulshan Clean & Care, Chittagong Seba Sangstha) and Zambia (Dream Team, Miracle Team) to develop waste to resource initiatives as part of improved faecal sludge management. We are currently reviewing our urban sanitation portfolio.

Department for Education

Institute for Apprenticeships

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills has held meetings with the panel of apprentices that reports to the Board of the Institute for Apprenticeships.

Anne Milton: Holding answer received on 19 April 2018



The Panel of Apprentices, announced in April 2017, is particularly important to help the Institute for Apprenticeships improve the quality of apprenticeships as it reflects the importance of apprentices’ experiences across a broad range of different occupational routes. I attended by telephone the meeting of the Board of the Institute for Apprenticeships in December last year. I am hoping to meet with the Panel of Apprentices in the near future.

Students: Loans

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he retains the legal power to revise the terms and conditions of student loans, including those sold to the Student Loans Company; and whether his Department has any plans to standardise those terms and conditions irrespective of the higher education start date of those loans.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Key student loan repayment terms are set out in legislation, and can therefore be amended through the applicable parliamentary processes. It is important that, subject to this Parliamentary scrutiny, the government retains the power to adjust the terms and conditions of student loans. However, the government has no plans to change, or to consider changing, the terms of pre-2012 loans, including those sold recently. Student loans are subsidised by the taxpayer, and we must ensure that the interests of both borrowers and taxpayers continue to be protected. The review of post-18 education and funding will look at how we can ensure a joined-up education system that works for everyone.

Schools: Football

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of girls who play football in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England in each of the last five years.

Nadhim Zahawi: This information is not held centrally. The government is supporting the new Active Lives (Children and Young People) survey, which was rolled out to schools in September 2017. The survey is delivered by Sport England on behalf of the Department of Digital, Culture Media and Sport, Department of Education and Department of Health and Social Care. It will provide a world-leading approach to gathering data on how children aged 5-15 engage with sport and physical activity. Data will include girls’ participation in football. The first set of results is expected by January 2019.

Apprentices: Greater London

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships are available in (a) Lewisham, Deptford constituency, (b) Lewisham borough and (c) London.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Vacancies are publically advertised in the ‘find an apprenticeship’ service website available at: https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/apprenticeshipsearch.The table below provides the number of apprenticeship vacancies advertised in the system. Whilst not all vacancies are advertised through this system, they may be indicative of the true level of places available.Apprenticeship vacancies postedGeographical breakdownNumberLewisham Deptford40Lewisham Local Authority100London3,910NotesFigures are from ‘find an apprenticeship’ service and may not be indicative of the true level of vacancies available.Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.Data reported as of April 2018.

Graduates: Lewisham

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the number of people from (a) Lewisham, Deptford constituency and (b) Lewisham borough who graduated from university in the 2016-17 academic year.

Mr Sam Gyimah: These statistics are publically available as the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on enrolments and qualifications obtained from UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The latest statistics, referring to the 2016 to 2017 academic year, were published on 11 January 2018. They can be accessed through the following link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/11-01-2018/sfr247-higher-education-student-statistics The table below provides information on numbers of qualifiers from courses at UK providers who were living in Lewisham borough and the Lewisham Deptford parliamentary constituency before starting their studies.   Higher Education qualifiers domiciled in Lewisham borough and Lewisham-Deptford constituency prior to study by level of qualificationUK Higher Education Institutions Academic year 2016 to 2017   Lewisham boroughLewisham Deptford parliamentary constituencyPostgraduate (research)9550Postgraduate (taught)960480First degree1,785735Other undergraduate425190Total3,2651,4551) Figures are rounded to the nearest multiple of five so may not sum to totals2) Constituency and local authority is derived from the student's postcode prior to study.

Children: Day Care

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the average weekly cost of a childcare place in (a) Lewisham, Deptford constituency, (b) Lewisham borough and (c) London in each year since 2010.

Nadhim Zahawi: The department collects and publishes data on the regional weekly cost of childcare through our regular ‘Childcare and early years survey of parents’. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-childcare-and-early-years.

Schools: Vocational Guidance

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the provision of careers information, advice and guidance in schools accommodates the needs of young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Nick Gibb: The Government’s careers strategy, published in December 2017, contains a number of proposals to improve careers advice for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including:Funding for the Education and Training Foundation to provide professional development for practitioners working with these young people;Funding for training and materials for post-16 providers to help them design and tailor study programmes which offer a pathway to employment for these students;A toolkit for schools and colleges by The Careers & Enterprise Company and the Gatsby Foundation; andTraining for Enterprise Advisers (senior volunteers from business who support schools with their careers programme) so young people with special educational needs and disabilities have the advice they need.We will also be funding grants later this year to establish good practice in ways of working with young people with SEND and their parents.

Schools: Vocational Guidance

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the careers strategy, what plans his Department has to extend the provision of qualified careers guidance counsellors.

Nick Gibb: The careers strategy makes clear that personal guidance from a qualified practitioner is important to help people make choices about their education, training and careers.Secondary schools and colleges are responsible for making sure their students receive independent careers guidance. Every pupil should have opportunities for personal guidance interviews with a qualified careers adviser whenever significant study or career choices are being made. The Government’s expectation is that every pupil should have at least one such interview by the age of 16, and the opportunity for a further interview by the age of 18. Schools are encouraged to search for qualified careers practitioners in their area on the UK Register of Career Development Professionals.The National Careers Service continues to provide impartial, high quality information, advice and guidance so that adults both in and out of work have tailored careers support. Nearly 1,300 careers advisers deliver the service, the majority of whom are qualified at Level 4 or above in careers information, advice and guidance.

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of conferring qualified teacher status on people who have completed the (a) the early years professional status and (b) early years teacher status, and if he will make a statement on his Department's early years workforce strategy.

Nadhim Zahawi: We are considering the feasibility of a range of approaches to supporting graduates in the early years’ workforce including the training routes available. This work is still underway. Delivery of the commitments in the workforce strategy to support workforce recruitment and development, published in March 2017, is underway. For example, we have consulted on criteria for new, more robust, level 2 qualifications and are working with stakeholders to finalise these. Stakeholders are also working with us to develop career pathways information to support careers advice, recruitment and staff development. Early years providers are responsible for building and supporting their workforce, but the government is committed to continuing to work with the sector to review the challenges they face, and to collaborating to identify and implement solutions.

Children: Day Care

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will make it his policy to review the early years national funding formula to enable childcare settings to pay graduate-level wages to at least one member of staff.

Nadhim Zahawi: By 2019-20, the government will be spending around £6 billion a year on childcare support, including £1 billion to deliver 30 hours of free childcare and pay the higher funding rates that we introduced in April 2017. Our funding rates are based on evidence from our ‘Review of Childcare Costs’, which was described as “thorough and wide ranging” by the National Audit Office. Local authorities’ individual funding rates are set by the new early years national funding formula which takes account of relative children’s needs and costs of delivery. It is for providers to determine how best to organise their staffing. We continue to monitor delivery costs and have commissioned new research to provide us with robust and detailed cost data from a representative sample of early years providers.

Children: Day Care

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking ensure the adequacy of guidance issued to childcare providers on the support his Department offers on graduate qualifications.

Nadhim Zahawi: The accredited training providers are responsible for the marketing of and recruitment of trainees to their courses. We provide guidance on our website for employers and providers, including:Early years initial teacher training guide for employers: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/early-years-initial-teacher-training-itt-a-guide-for-employers.Early years initial teacher training guide for providers: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/early-years-initial-teacher-training-a-guide-for-providers#training-routes.Our ‘Get Into Teaching’ website also has a specific ‘Early Years’ area: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/become-an-early-years-teacher.

Teachers: Training

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to improve the transparency of the (a) content of the modules within the early years initial teacher training course and (b) routes from that course to qualifications that can follow.

Nadhim Zahawi: Early years initial teacher training courses are designed and delivered by accredited providers to train individuals to meet the Teachers’ Standards (Early Years) which were published in 2013. The Teachers’ Standards (Early Years) are available at:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/211646/Early_Years_Teachers__Standards.pdf.Early years initial teacher training requirements and supporting advice are available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-itt-requirements-supporting-advice.Early Years Teacher Status is awarded to graduates who are judged to have met all of the Teachers’ Standards (Early Years) in practice from birth to the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage.Individuals who have achieved a degree qualification can pursue masters or doctorate courses, for example.

Teachers: Training

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will disaggregate the data for primary initial teacher training and those for the early years initial teacher training programme in any future relevant publications on gov.uk.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department does not aggregate Primary initial teacher training (ITT) with Early Years ITT in any of its statistical publications relating to ITT.Figures for Early Years are published separately to Primary in the ITT Allocations and ITT Census publications, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tsm-and-initial-teacher-training-allocations-2018-to-2019 and https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2017-to-2018 respectively.The ITT Performance Profiles, to date, excluded trainees undertaking Early Years ITT programmes. The Department intends to publish data on the outcomes of Early Years trainees as experimental statistics for the first time as an annex to the ITT Performance Profiles 2016/17 in July 2018. The ITT Performance Profiles can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-performance-profiles-2015-to-2016.

Teachers: Training

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing mandatory early years training for reception teachers.

Nick Gibb: Providing the best possible initial teacher training (ITT) is at the heart of the Government’s drive to improve teaching standards. All programmes of ITT must prepare teachers to meet the Teachers’ Standards and demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge.There is already a requirement for all trainee teachers on an ITT course leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) that covers the 5-11 age range to have an understanding of progression in the early years age range (0-5). If training on, for example, a 3-7 primary ITT course, the trainee must demonstrate meeting the Teachers’ Standards across the full age and ability range specified by the course (including Early Years Foundation Stage ages 3-5) before being awarded QTS. The Department publishes guidance on this requirement, which can be found in section C2.2 of the ITT criteria (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-criteria), which states:“Providers must ensure trainees have the opportunity to develop a comprehensive understanding of progression across, and before and after, the age range they are training to teach. This might include enhanced experiences in other age ranges.”

Social Services: Children

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect on outcomes for vulnerable children of the variation in the level of access to children's services throughout England.

Nadhim Zahawi: Local areas are best placed to assess the needs and priorities in their area, and thresholds for access to children’s services are set locally, allowing for the specific needs of local children and families. As part of inspection of children’s services, Ofsted assesses whether local thresholds are set appropriately for children and factors this assessment into judgements on the quality of local services. The department has not made its own assessment of the impact of thresholds for children in need, or for vulnerable children more generally.

Education: Asylum

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Home Department on the effect of (a) the status of immigration bail under Schedule 10 to the Immigration Act 2016, and (b) associated bail conditions prohibiting studying on the ability of asylum seekers to (i) take part in educational activities and (ii) sit examinations; and if he will make a statement.

Nadhim Zahawi: My department and the Home Office have regular discussions about a range of issues and have discussed the effect of the status of immigration bail under Schedule 10 to the Immigration Act 2016. Immigration bail does not change any of the existing policies on migrants who can access study, take part in educational activities or sit examinations.

Department for Education: Sick Leave

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.

Anne Milton: The table below shows what proportion of the department’s staff that have had days lost due to mental illness or stress. 1 January – 31 DecemberWorking days lost due to mental illness/stressNumber of staff absentPercentage of all staff employed in period201544711754%201649161593%201756172354%

Schools: Coventry

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many full-time equivalent (a) teachers, (b) teaching assistants and (c) support staff were empolyed in local authority schools in Coventry in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb: The full time equivalent (FTE) number of teachers, teaching assistant and support staff in service in local authority maintained schools in Coventry and England from November 2010 to November 2016 is provided in the table below. November 2017 figures will be publicly available at the end of June 2018. The apparent decreases are due to the increasing number of academy conversions and the consequent migration of teachers from local authority maintained schools to academies in the statistics requested.  TeachersTeaching AssistantsSupport Staff Coventry[1]EnglandCoventry[1],[2]EnglandCoventry[1],[3]England20102,940418,010..207,730....20112,510356,3901,120198,9201,520106,95020122,390320,8301,180195,7501,49095,98020132,120299,2801,180192,9201,37088,68020142,090284,8801,240192,3401,34085,38020151,770272,2501,090189,6601,10083,24020161,730256,9001,090181,7501,02078,700Source: School Workforce CensusFigures are rounded to the nearest 10. [1] Figures include estimates for missing schools for England but are not available by local authority.[2] The total number of FTE teaching assistants was estimated for November 2010 due to 15% of teaching assistants having missing ‘hours worked’ data. To produce this estimate it has been assumed the teaching assistants with missing data have similar hours worked to those for whom we received data. This was only estimated for England.[3] The actual hours worked which is used to calculate the FTE of support staff was not collected in the November 2010 School Workforce Census and therefore is not available.

Adoption: Self-employed

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2018 to Question 136096 on Self-employed: Adoption, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on statutory adoption leave for the self-employed of the request by adoption agencies that adoptive parents spend a minimum of six months at home when a child is first placed.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Educational Psychology

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children who received help from schools-based educational psychologists in each of the last three years for which data is available.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Educational Psychology

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department provided for schools-based educational psychologists in each of the last three years for which data is available.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Education Fellowship Trust

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education,  pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2018 to Question 136599 on Education Fellowship Trust (TEFT), if he will list the (a) 10 TEFT schools for which new trusts have been identified but which have not yet been transferred and (b) two TEFT schools for which no new trust has been identified.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Academies

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academy schools are awaiting re-brokering as of 26 April 2018.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Home Education: Assessments

Mike Kane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Correspondence 17 April 2018: schools, published by the Skills and Funding Agency, and pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2018 to Question 133784, on Home Education: Assessments, who has responsibility for ensuring that children sit SATs.

Nick Gibb: Primary-school head teachers have a statutory duty to ensure that all pupils in their school who can sit the Key Stage 1 and 2 national curriculum tests do so. They have discretion to determine that it is inappropriate for a particular pupil to sit the tests (for example, if they have not completed the relevant programme of study or cannot access the tests). Home-educated children do not have to sit the Key Stage 1 or 2 tests.

Students: Loans

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2018 to Question 137156 on Students: Loans, what estimate he has made of the increase in the average level of debt held by students on graduation as a result of the increase in March of the retail prices index to 3.3 percent.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The increase in student loan interest rates from 1 September 2018 will only affect a minority of borrowers. They will either pay back the full amount, or almost the full amount, of their student loans. The government expects that around 30% to 35% of post-2012 borrowers with higher education loans and 40% to 45% of borrowers with advanced learner loans will repay their student loans in full.

Social Mobility Commission: Public Appointments

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the panel sift for the appointment of a new Chair of the Social Mobility Commission took place on 12 April as advertised.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Mobility Commission: Public Appointments

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether final interviews for the appointment of a new Chair of the Social Mobility Commission are still planned for 3 May.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Educational Exchanges

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils at secondary schools have been on foreign exchange trips for each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is not held centrally.

Ministry of Justice

Legal Aid Scheme

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number people living in poverty who are not eligible for legal aid.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of disabled people living in poverty who are not eligible for legal aid.

Lucy Frazer: It is not possible to answer these questions. This is because eligibility for legal aid is determined by the applicant’s financial means as well as the merits and circumstances of their case.Legal aid eligibility is a crucial way in which the government protects the legal aid fund for those who need it most while balancing this with cost to the taxpayer. As announced by the Lord Chancellor, we are conducting a review of legal aid reforms and plan to take this opportunity to inform wider consideration on the future of legal support in the justice system.

Prisons: Education

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of effect of Personal Learning Plans in ensuring the delivery of hate crime education in prisons.

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on prisoners' Personal Learning Plans; and what such data his Department plans to hold in future.

Rory Stewart: Holding answer received on 01 May 2018



Personal learning plans are created to map out a prisoner’s journey through education whilst in custody, aiming to provide them with the skills and knowledge needed to realise their employment and other aspirations and ultimately, decrease the chance of reoffending. Should a prisoner’s need include being educated on hate crime, it will form part of this plan. To promote prisoner ownership of learning plans, they are delivered locally in a paper-based manner, so a prisoner can physically have their own plan. We are seeking to introduce a digital element to this system so that information can be collated and analysed, informing education programme developments and providing data on prisoner achievements, through which governors can be held to account.

Prisoners: Social Media

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training is provided to prisoners on the use of social media; and under what programmes such training operates.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Prison Officers

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers that work at prisons rated as Overall performance is of concern were working on detached duty at another prison during January 2018.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers who work at prisons which are in special measures were working on detached duty at another prison during January 2018.

Rory Stewart: The latest available prison performance ratings data cover the period 2016/17 and are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-annual-performance-ratings-2016-to-2017.40 prisons were rated as having overall performance of concern in 2016/17. There were 62 prison officers from these prisons working on Detached Duty at other public-sector prisons during January 2018. There were 16 prison officers from prisons in special measures working on Detached Duty at other public-sector prisons during January 2018. Detached Duty is one of the sensible and proportionate measures we take to ensure we run safe and decent regimes in prisons and respond appropriately to any operational issues that arise.

Employment Tribunals Service

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time was for an employment tribunal appeal hearing at each employment tribunal hearing venue in each of the last 12 months.

Lucy Frazer: The average waiting time for a claim in the employment tribunal to reach a hearing is shown in the table below, broken down by each hearing venue over the last 12 months. Table: Average waiting time (in weeks) from receipt to first hearing by month and by venue: All Claims 1,2   MonthVenue Jan-17Feb-17Mar-17Apr-17May-17Jun-17 Ave in wks Ave in wks Ave in wks Ave in wks Ave in wks Ave in wks  Aberdeen38 34 28 26 23 31 Birmingham26 24 29 22 23 25 Bristol32 35 31 34 26 26 Cardiff29 25 31 26 49 29 Dundee18 26 25 23 35 - Edinburgh40 30 36 21 29 24 Glasgow48 37 34 45 56 38 Leeds28 25 22 25 39 23 London Central32 27 32 25 31 26 London South33 28 29 33 34 37 Manchester31 28 32 27 27 27 Newcastle18 22 61 23 59 24 Nottingham27 36 37 29 35 29 Stratford32 26 32 26 32 32 Watford30 32 31 29 36 30 National31 29 32 28 34 28Month  Venue   Jul-17Aug-17Sep-17Oct-17Nov-17Dec-17Jan 17 - Dec 17 Ave in wks Ave in wks Ave in wks Ave in wks Ave in wks Ave in wks Ave in wks  Aberdeen24 28 29 22 18 27 27 Birmingham32 29 29 30 29 25 27 Bristol31 25 42 29 34 29 31 Cardiff31 31 35 35 30 29 31 Dundee15 22 15 24 - 19 24 Edinburgh21 20 29 29 40 30 30 Glasgow20 32 30 25 54 21 38 Leeds24 17 27 33 23 18 25 London Central29 19 31 27 39 24 29 London South33 35 29 39 31 40 33 Manchester24 28 31 29 25 23 28 Newcastle33 19 16 20 23 19 28 Nottingham38 27 39 29 33 24 32 Stratford30 29 30 25 26 20 29 Watford34 34 38 37 35 32 33 National30 28 32 30 31 25 30  1 Single claims are made by a sole employee/worker, relating to alleged breaches of employment rights.2 Multiple claims are where two or more people bring proceedings arising out of the same facts, usually against a common employer. In this instance the lead multiple claim would be listed for hearing. This table provides the average listing time for both single and lead multiple claim cases." - " denotes no claims listed for this period.All data was taken from the Employment Tribunals Central database and as such is management information that is, provisional and subject to change.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, and is the best data that is available at the time of publication. A claim may contain one or more jurisdictional complaint (grounds for the claim). Depending upon the complexity of the jurisdiction this may importantly influence the listing of such claims.

Ministry of Justice: Sick Leave

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.

Dr Phillip Lee: The number of staff recorded on a leave of absence from work due to a Mental Health related illness or stress in each month of the last three years is tabled below. Sickness absence in MOJ staff due to mental and behavioural disorders1, 12 months to March 2015 to 12 months to 31 December 2017  Number of staff who took sick leave due to mental & behavioural disorders (FTE)Proportion of staff who took sick leave due to mental & behavioural disordersTotal working days lost due to mental & behavioural disorders12 months to 31 March 20153,6715.5%171,54312 months to 31 March 20164,2546.4%167,46312 months to 31 March 201724,2286.5%163,02312 months to 31 December 201724,4576.8%148,8641 Includes stress related absences.2 Between January and March 2017, during migration of data to the Single Operating Platform, an under-recording of sickness absence records occurred. There is therefore likely to be an undercount of working days lost for the 12 months to 31 March 2017 and the 12 months to 31 December 2017.  This data includes staff employed by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Headquarters, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, HM Prison and Probation Service, Legal Aid Agency, Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and Office of the Public Guardian. Individuals are included if they were absent for any part of the month. Where an absence straddles more than one month it is included in each. MoJ has been working with Civil Service Employee Policy (CSEP) to benchmark our mental wellbeing interventions and mental health support against the recommendations of the Farmer/Stevenson independent mental health review ‘Thriving at Work’, published in October 2017. A key priority for Sir Jeremy Heywood and all Permanent Secretaries is the mental health and wellbeing of all civil servants, and in line with the ambition for the Civil Service to be a leading employer in relation to mental health, MoJ has a range of initiatives and policies in place to support our staff. These include a: a) Wellbeing Strategyb) Employee Assistance Programmec) Occupational Health provisiond) Mental Health Strategy & Action Plane) Mental Health Allies Network – to offer support and signposting to staff on mental health issuesf) Board-level senior Health and Wellbeing Champion, supported by a network of wellbeing champions across the Department

Immigrants: Detainees

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of the 24 April to Question 136754 on Immigrants: Detainees, whether the pay rates for immigration-related detainees are consistent throughout the prison service.

Rory Stewart: The prison service runs one immigration removal centre in which detainee pay is as set out in the Secretary of State for the Home Department’s previous answer. Immigration Detainees detained in a prison have the same rights as a remand prisoner. Where a detainee undertakes work in a prison he or she will be paid the rate paid to other prisoners in that prison. This means the pay rate will vary nationally depending on the work being done by the detainee and the pay rates determined by the Governor. Governors have discretion to determine local pay rates that reflect their prisoner population needs, the type of prison, the regime in operation, and the jobs / educational / vocational training that are available. Governors must pay at least the national minimum rate of £4 per week (Prison Service Order (PSO) 4460 sets out the national policy for Prisoners’ Pay), though in many cases the rate will be considerably higher. Prisoners or immigration detainees who want to work but for whom no suitable employment is available, or who are unable to work, receive the minimum ‘unemployment’ pay of £2.50 per week. A copy of the PSO can be found here: https://www.justice.gov.uk/offenders/psos

Department for International Trade

Thailand: Overseas Investment

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what safeguards are in place to ensure that UK companies investing in the Thai poultry farm industry comply with (a) business and (b) human rights obligations.

Greg Hands: UK companies investing overseas are obliged to comply with the laws which apply in the relevant foreign country as enforced by the appropriate jurisdiction. In addition, this Government supports full implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Garden Communities: Ebbsfleet

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many affordable homes have been built as part of Ebbsfleet Garden City; and how many of those home are for (a) social rent, (b) shared ownership, (c) affordable rent and (d) other affordable housing.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 18 April 2018



Ebbsfleet Development Corporation are committed to delivering a well planned and vibrant garden city that offers high quality and well designed homes, with a mix of tenures for all stages in life, including affordable housing.So far 129 affordable housing units have been built within the Ebbsfleet Garden city. Of these, 78 units are affordable rent and 51 are shared ownership. A further 372 affordable homes currently have detailed consent. Again, these would be a mix of affordable rent and shared ownership.

Fire Prevention: Preston

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2018 to Question 134374 on Fire Prevention: Preston, what discussions his Department has had with Preston City Council on the external cladding installed on the exterior of properties in the (a) Fishwick, (b) St Matthews and (c) Town Centre wards under the Community Energy Saving Programme; and whether that cladding has made properties unsafe to reside in due to risk of fire or mould.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 23 April 2018



The Department has been in contact with all local authorities in England about high rise residential buildings and cladding as part of its Building Safety Programme. Information being collected through this exercise is set out in monthly data releases which are published at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/building-safety-programme#data-on-the-building-safety-progamme. The issue of mould was raised at an earlier time with the Department and general advice on Building Regulations would have been provided.

Local Government Finance

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2018 to Question 134929 on Local Government Finance, whether the Government has provided any funding to date to (a) local authorities, (b) combined authorities and (c) elected mayors.

Rishi Sunak: In February, Parliament confirmed our settlement for local government which has provided a real terms increase in resources available to local government – £44.3 billion in 2017-18 to £45.1 billion in 2018-19. This recognises both the growing pressure on local government’s services and higher-than-expected inflation levels.On EU Exit, we are working with local government, and other Government departments, to understand the potential impact on the sector. We will work closely with policy teams from across Whitehall to understand the impact their EU Exit policies will have on the sector, and ensure that they assess and, if appropriate, fund any potential new burdens. The upcoming Spending Review will provide an opportunity to look at funding for local government in the round.

Local Government

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which local authorities have not had a corporate peer challenge from the Local Government Association since 2011.

Rishi Sunak: Holding answer received on 26 April 2018



Government is clear that the Local Government Association’s corporate peer challenge process is an effective and efficient means of delivering peer-led improvement support to local authorities.Whilst the process is voluntary, I would expect and encourage every authority to take part in the peer challenge programme and the overwhelming majority of local authorities have hosted corporate peer review.

Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of receipts from Right to Buy sales received by each local authority were retained for providing replacement social housing in each year since 2012-2013.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 26 April 2018



Local authorities can keep a proportion of the receipts from Right to Buy sales to fund new affordable housing. The money is also used to cover the transaction costs of the sales, debt repayment on the properties, and planned income from the previously expected receipts (both the local authority and the Government share), which applied under the previous “pooling” system under which local authority housing was funded.The proportion of local authorities’ Right to Buy receipts which could be retained for replacement social housing each year since 2012-13 are as follows:2012-13: 29.56 per cent2013-14: 40.83 per cent2014-15: 47.85 per cent2015-16: 49.36 per cent2016-17: 52.74 per cent2017-18: 51.37 per centFigures are as indicated in data returns as of February and March 2018.It is important to note that these figures represent working management information for day-to-day use. They are not finalised and are subject to continuous revisions as local authorities carry out periodic review and reconciliation exercises.In particular, not all data returns have yet been certified by appropriate council officers.Figures published on gov.uk include only certified figures.This may mean some discrepancies between these working figures and those published on gov.uk.

Housing: Finance

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the Shared Housing and Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21 prospectus will be updated to reflect additional funding committed since January 2017.

Dominic Raab: Affordable housing remains the Government's priority. That's why the Prime Minister has announced an additional £2 billion funding for affordable housing, increasing the Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21 budget to over £9 billion to deliver a wide range of affordable housing, including social rent homes.The Chancellor has also announced an additional £1.67 billon funding boost for London to support the Mayor to build a further 26,000 affordable homes - two-thirds will be homes for rent, including at social rent. This has increased our investment in London to over £4.8 billion for at least 116,000 homes by March 2022.Further details on how social rent will be prioritised in areas of greatest need outside London, and how funding will be available for bids, will be published shortly.

Housing: Construction

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the starter homes land fund that has been spent to date.

Dominic Raab: We estimate that some £250 million of the Starter Homes Land Fund has been spent to date. Following the announcement of the new Land Assembly Fund at Budget 2017 we are reviewing the operation of the Starter Homes Land Fund. The new Fund is part of a package of housing measures announced to ensure our Housing White Paper commitments are delivered.

First Time Buyers: Greater London

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Departments holds on the average cost of a home purchased by first-time buyers in (a) Lewisham, Deptford constituency, (b) Lewisham borough and (c) London in each of the last seven years.

Dominic Raab: The Land Registry publish monthly statistics on first time buyer house prices, including London and Lewisham borough, from January 2012, at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-house-price-index-reportsNo breakdown is available on a parliamentary constituency basis.

Affordable Housing

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to issue new guidance to planning authorities on the proportion of affordable homes in any new development on which they can insist; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Raab: It is the role of local authorities to set out in plans the scale and type of housing, including affordable housing, required in their area. The draft National Planning Policy Framework and associated guidance was published in March. This makes clear that local plans should set clear policy requirements for affordable housing. This is supported by a standardised way of assessing local housing need and a new approach to viability.

Housing: Construction

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities are able to charge self-builders under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Dominic Raab: To support small scale developers, national policy states that affordable housing and tariff style section 106 contributions should not be sought from sites of ten units or less. This would usually apply to self-builders. Furthermore, self-builders should not have to pay Community Infrastructure Levy charges where an exemption has been applied for and obtained. However, it may be appropriate for local authorities to seek planning obligations from development where they are required to make a proposal acceptable in planning terms.

Housing: Finance

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March to Question 132182 on Housing: Finance, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the bidding process for local authorities councils to be allocate housing-related funding.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 27 April 2018



The Government is investing over £9 billion in the Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21, to support councils and housing associations to deliver genuinely affordable homes where they are needed most.We have confirmed long-term rent certainty for social landlords in England and announced that we will be providing councils with £1 billion of additional borrowing to deliver homes where demand is greatest. These measures, and the additional Affordable Homes Programme funding, will support local authorities to deliver a new generation of council house building.The programme is flexible and sets no ring-fences on particular forms of tenure, so providers can bid into the programme to develop a wide range of homes to meet the housing needs of a range of people in different circumstances and housing markets – building the right homes in the right places.

Homelessness

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the wrap-around substance misuse and mental health services that will required to help ensure the targets for Housing First are met.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: These pilots build upon learning from the Housing First Feasibility study Government co-funded in Liverpool City region, published in July 2017, which showed that Housing First could work to end the homelessness of those with the most complex needs, if delivered as an integrated part of wider homelessness services. The report set out a blue print for the necessary mental health provision embedded within the core Housing First Teams and the relationships with other local services necessary to make the approach a success.Government committed £28 million at budget 2017 to implement three regional Housing First pilots in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and Liverpool City Region.

Help to Buy Scheme

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the loss in value of Help to Buy equity loans owed to the Exchequer as a result of the discovery of unsafe cladding.

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the value was of planning obligations agreed to in each year since 2010-11; and what proportion of that value was attributed to (a) direct payments, (b) affordable housing and (c) other types of contributions.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 30 April 2018



Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy we have been working urgently to identify any other buildings over 18 metres with potentially unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. With the support of local authorities, fire and rescue services and the expert panel, MHCLG is supporting building owners to take immediate steps to ensure the safety of residents. Homes England is also reviewing the implications where homes may have been purchased with the support of Help to Buy Equity Loan.

Local Government Finance

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Questions 245 to 259 of his evidence to the Treasury Committee on 25 April 2018 on local authorities, how he defines the term at risk to categorise that level of financial sustainability of local authorities in England; what terms other than at risk he uses to categorise the levels of financial sustainability of local authorities in England; and how many local authorities in England have been defined as (a) at risk and (b) any other level he uses to categorise levels of financial sustainability.

Rishi Sunak: MHCLG has processes in place to provide assurance about the sustainability of individual local authorities. We consider a range of information about individual authorities in order to form judgements about the potential challenges they may face.While important, finance is often not the determining factor in an authority’s ability to deliver effective services, as noted for example in Max Caller’s independent inspection of Northamptonshire. The assessment made at a sector and individual level is nuanced, and therefore MHCLG does not place authorities into fixed categories.

Local Government Finance

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Questions 245 to 259 of his evidence to the Treasury Committee on 25 April 2018 on local authority funding, whether he has conducted a risk assessment of the (a) short-term and (b) long-term financial ability of local authorities to meet the need for local services.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the (a) short-term and (b) long-term financial sustainability of local authorities' provision of public services.

Rishi Sunak: MHCLG has processes in place to provide assurance about the sustainability of individual local authorities. We consider a range of information about individual authorities in order to form judgements about the potential challenges they may face.As part of the 2018 local government finance settlement, this Government has also shown its commitment to supporting services by giving local authorities:the ability to increase their core Council Tax requirement by an additional one per cent without a local referendum; anda further £150 million at final settlement for Adult Social Care in 2018-19 to support local care markets.In addition, the Government will undertake the next Spending Review in early 2019, so that budgets can be set out in advance for 2020 onwards.

Local Government Finance

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Questions 245 to 259 of his evidence to the Treasury Committee on 25 April 2018 on The Work of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what drivers of cost he has identified among local authorities in England.

Rishi Sunak: The Government is conducting a review of the relative needs and resources of local authorities in England, with a view to setting fresh baseline funding levels in 2020-21. In line with the principles that were set out in the consultation paper published in December 2017, we are committed to implementing an approach that is as simple and transparent as possible, while recognising this should not be at the expense of accuracy and fairness.We are working closely with local government representatives to consider the drivers of local authorities’ costs, the relative resources available to them to fund local services, and how we should account for these in a way that draws a more transparent and understandable link between local circumstances and resource allocations.The December 2017 consultation was an important opportunity for all local authorities to tell us about the factors which drive costs for the services they deliver on a day to day basis. We received over 300 responses to the consultation, which are now being carefully considered as we progress this review.

Local Government Finance

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to oral evidence given to the Treasury Committee on 25 April 2018, HC 424 and the Local Government Association's response to the Housing, Communities and Local Government report into business rates, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of local government finance in maintaining vital services.

Rishi Sunak: Through the settlement, Local Government has been given access to £45.1 billion in 2018-19 and £45.6 billion in 2019-20. This is an overall increase since 2017-18 of £1.3 billion.2018/19 is the third year of a four year deal providing funding certainty accepted by 97 per cent of councils in return for publishing efficiency plans.In addition, the current business rates retention scheme is yielding strong results. Local authorities estimate that in 2018-19 they will keep around £2.4 billion in business rates growth.

Ministry of Defence

Libya: Armed Conflict

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether British military officers played a role in Qatar's training of armed opposition groups in the western mountains of Libya during the war in 2011.

Mark Lancaster: UK Armed Forces played no role in Qatar's training of armed opposition groups in Libya.

Navy

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Commander UK Amphibious Forces Headquarters is to be folded into a revamped Maritime Battle Staff  this year.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of changes to amphibious capabilities if Commander UK Amphibious Forces is merged into the Maritime Battle Staff.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence decided in 2016 to undertake work to plan for a merger of the two existing elements of the Fleet battlestaff, Commander UK Amphibious Forces (COMUKAMPHIBFOR) and Maritime Battle Staff (MBS) into a single deployable Headquarters.The Naval Service continues to consider the planning associated with this merger. No date has been set for the completion of this work.

Air Force: Surveillance

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to counter open-source tracking of RAF aircraft.

Mark Lancaster: Safety remains paramount. Most military aircraft are fitted with civil standard Mode S Transponders. Mode S transponders are primarily required by Air Traffic Control centres and for aircraft to identify each other as a key element of air-to-air collision avoidance technology. Open-source tracking is a bi-product of that safety critical technology.Many military aircraft with an operational role also have NATO Mode 5 military standard Transponders. Popular flight tracking websites track aircraft operating Mode S; they cannot track aircraft operating NATO Mode 5. When undertaking operations which are segregated from civil air traffic, NATO Mode 5 transponders can be utilised and Mode S switched off. In addition, many of our military aircraft are fitted with appropriate defensive aids countermeasures and other force protection measures can be employed if deemed necessary.When operating alongside civil air traffic, military aircraft are mandated to operate Mode S in order to comply with International Civil Aviation Organisation communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management systems guidelines. The civilian air safety working processes, hailed as best-practice, are applicable to military aircraft, including all NATO partners.

Army Foundation College: Inspections

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2018 to Question 133468, if he will place a copy of the most recent report of the Army’s internal audit of welfare and care issues at AFC Harrogate in the Library.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Welfare and Duty of Care of all our personnel remains a top priority with continuous activities ongoing to ensure its robust delivery.A copy of the "Report of the Training Assurance Visit to Army Foundation College Harrogate (AFC(H)): 2-4 November 2015" and the response to the report's recommendations have been placed in the Library of the House. The report has been redacted in accordance with Data Protection Act Principles.



Army Foundation College Harrogate
(PDF Document, 393.28 KB)




ARTD Assurance Feeback AFC Response
(PDF Document, 199.62 KB)

Autonomous Weapons

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his oral contribution of 23 April 2018, whether he will plans to realigning the definition of lethal autonomous weapons within the eight month period recommended by the House of Lords Report on Artificial Intelligence, published on 16 April 2018.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence has no plans to change the definition of an autonomous system, referred to in the House of Lords' Artificial Intelligence Committee Report of 16 April 2018. The UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons Group of Government Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) continues to look at the issue but has yet to agree on the definition and characteristics of possible LAWS. The UK will continue to actively participate in future GGE meetings, trying to reach agreement at the earliest possible stage.

Navy: Recruitment

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment has he made of effect on recruitment to the Royal Navy of the opening of the United Kingdom Naval Support Facility in Mina Salman, Bahrain.

Mark Lancaster: The Royal Navy (RN) recruits from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries. No assessment has been made of the effect on recruitment to the RN of the opening of the Naval Support Facility in Mina Salman, Bahrain.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with his Polish counterpart on increasing the number of UK troops on rotational deployment to the Suwalki gap.

Mark Lancaster: I hold regular discussions with partners and Allies, including Poland. Our Light Cavalry Squadron in Orzysz is part of NATO's enhanced Forward Presence (eFP), which is a defensive but combat capable force that strengthens the Alliance's deterrence and defence posture. eFP will remain for as long as is necessary.

Ministry of Defence Police

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which critical national infrastructure sites the Ministry of Defence Police provides civil policing and armed security for.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which UK (a) facilities, (b) property and (c) sites classed as critical national infrastructure have protective security ensured by the Ministry of Defence Police.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence Police provide policing and armed security across a wide range of sites, including some that are classed as critical national infrastructure. I am withholding the locations and names of the critical national infrastructure sites for the purpose of safeguarding national security.

Ministry of Defence: Sick Leave

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The requested information is provided in the table below: Ministry of Defence Civilian Personnel, number of working days lost to Mental and Behavioural Disorders (International Classification of Diseases (ICD), version 10, PSD) Calendar YearNumber of Civilian Personnel who had  an Absence code  ICD10 PSDProportion of Civilian Personnel who had an  Absence code ICD10 PSDNumber of days of  Sickness due to  Absence code  ICD10 PSD20172,8005.60%80,73320162,6105.27%84,40020152,7255.42%82,223 Notes: The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) (version 10) uses the ICD code PSD Mental and Behavioural Disorders to register medical conditions of stress. This code also covers other conditions within this category. Figures exclude the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and Locally Employed Civilians for whom no data is available.Civilian Sickness Absence data has been published on the GOV.UK website since January 2016 and the latest available edition can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-civilian-sickness-absence-financial-year-201617. The next edition will be published on Thursday 31 May 2018. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes the health and wellbeing of its personnel very seriously. A Health and Wellbeing Strategy for all MOD employees, military and civilian, was published in mid-2015 and is designed to provide guidance to the Chain of Command and civilian line managers on how to manage the health needs, both mental and physical, of their people. The aim is to maximise the number of people fit to work, managing people back to work after a period of sickness, so that they are fit and able to meet the requirements of Defence outputs, including operational effectiveness. The Department has also launched a Mental Wellbeing Toolkit which is aimed at all civilian staff and their civilian and military line managers. The toolkit is designed to help staff spot warning signs that someone may be experiencing difficulties and know where additional advice and support can be found. In addition, the Department has a number of civilian Mental Health First Aiders, each of whom has completed a two-day course delivered in accordance with the requirements of Mental Health First Aid England (or regional equivalent).

Military Aircraft: Lasers

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many reported incidents of lasers attacks on military aircraft operating in UK airspace have been recorded by his Department in each of the last five years.

Mark Lancaster: The number of laser related Defence Air Safety Occurrence Reports received involving UK military aircraft operating in UK airspace for each of the last five years is given below.   YearLaser Related Incidents201340201470201570201630201740 Figures are rounded to the nearest 10

Ministry of Defence Police

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the savings that need to be accrued by his Department's (a) Head Office and (b) Corporate Services in relation to the work of the Ministry of Defence Police.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Shipbuilding

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to clarify its definitions of the terms (a) warship, (b) complex, (c) war material, and (d) warlike when they are used for shipbuilding procurement.

Guto Bebb: The National Shipbuilding Strategy (paragraph 92) defined Royal Navy warships as destroyers, frigates and aircraft carriers. We do not plan to issue any further definitions for the purposes of the National Shipbuilding Strategy.

Chile: Frigates

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government has concluded a deal to sell any Royal Navy frigates to the Chilean Government.

Guto Bebb: There are no negotiations with the Chilean Government about the sale of Royal Navy Frigates.

Department for Work and Pensions

Work Capability Assessment

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her Answer of 22 March 2018 to Question 133837, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of tendering a contract with a taxi company to enable vulnerable claimants to travel to assessments without having to pay travel costs upfront.

Sarah Newton: The Department expects the assessment providers to explore all possible options to ensure that an assessment can be carried out.

Parents: Counselling

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in seeking views from local authorities on the forthcoming Reducing Interparental Conflict programme and the range of interventions to be made available through it, whether local authorities were made aware that reducing couple conflict, rather than improving parenting, would be the primary goal of that programme.

Kit Malthouse: We have been working closely with a wide range of local authorities to implement our Reducing Parental Conflict programme. The local authorities who will lead the areas where face-to-face interventions will be delivered have been drawn from participants in our Local Family Offer trial. So these areas have a good understanding of the need to address parental conflict, and have been working for some years to embed support for parental conflict into their services for families. When compiling the list of interventions we plan to test as part of the Reducing Parental Conflict programme, we carefully considered the evidence of their impact on parental conflict. We recognise that variants of some programmes designed to improve parenting have content which is focused on the quality of the parental relationship. If these are delivered with fidelity they can reduce conflict between parents. We have been clear with local authorities that it is these versions that we plan to offer as part of our Reducing Parental Conflict Programme. The organisations commissioned to deliver support in local areas under these contracts will be under contract to DWP and performance managed by this department. The local authorities hosting the contracts are fully committed to reducing parental conflict by supporting the delivery of the ten chosen interventions. We will be supporting other local areas to recognise the importance of this and embed interventions to reduce parental conflict into their services too.

Employment Support Allowance: Motor Neurone Disease

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 April 2018 to Question 135350, if she will estimate the number of people in receipt of the upper rate of employment support allowance who have died of motor neurone disease since October 2016.

Sarah Newton: The Department does not hold information on cause of death and has no plans to collect this information.

Children: Maintenance

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much money the Child Maintenance Service has collected from paying parents in collection fees in (a) the UK and (b) in Scotland in each year since 2014.

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much money the Child Maintenance Service collected from receiving parents in collection fees in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland in each year since 2014.

Kit Malthouse: The amount collected from parents in non-child-maintenance receipts under the Child Maintenance Service is published yearly in the client fund accounts available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-maintenance-client-funds-accountsNon-child-maintenance receipts in these reports relate mainly to application fees, collection fees and enforcement charges, collected from paying and receiving parents For GB the total collected since 2014 is: YearGB Non-maintenance receipts2016-17£14.7m2015-16£8.5m2014-15£2.9m It is not currently possible to give an accurate breakdown of these figures below a national level or to provide average fees charged per parent.

Children: Maintenance

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average amount in collection fees taken by the Child Maintenance Service from paying parents has been in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland.

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average amount in collection fees taken by the Child Maintenance Service from receiving parents has been in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland.

Kit Malthouse: It is not currently possible to provide average fees charged per parent.

Children: Maintenance

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-resident parents are in maintenance arrears through the Child Maintenance Service; and what amount of money is outstanding in such arrears in Scotland.

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-resident parents are in maintenance arrears through the Child Maintenance Service; and what amount of money is outstanding in such arrears in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency.

Kit Malthouse: The number of paying parents with maintenance arrears, and the corresponding amount of money outstanding of such arrears as of December 2017 for both Scotland and the constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath is outlined in the table below.  Number of paying parents with Maintenance arrearsAmount of Maintenance Arrears (£m)Scotland8,94013.2Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath2400.3 Notes:- Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Pneumoconiosis: Screening

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will revise the standard guidance on post-retirement screening for pneumoconiosis to include the provision of CT scans.

Sarah Newton: The Department for Work and Pensions is working with the Department of Health on supporting the health of ex-miners. The Minister for Disabled People has convened a meeting with experts and other interested stakeholders on occupational lung disease. This will take place in early June. The Minister has also asked the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council to advise on the use of CT scanning to diagnose pneumoconiosis in the Industrial Injuries Disablement Scheme.

Personal Independence Payment

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on her Department's review of all personal independence payment claims.

Sarah Newton: I refer the Hon. Member to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document that the Secretary of State has laid in the House Library (Deposit reference: DEP2018-0345).

Personal Independence Payment

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment claims from people in (a) Wales and (b) Arfon constituency her Department intends to review.

Sarah Newton: The administrative exercise to identify claimants who may now be eligible for more support under PIP as a result of the MH judgment, will include anyone who was receiving PIP at or since 28th November 2016, and anyone who has received a decision since then. For further information, I refer the Hon. Member to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document that the Secretary of State has laid in the House Library (Deposit reference: DEP2018-0345).

Personal Independence Payment: Yorkshire and the Humber

John Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many appeals there were against personal independence payments determinations in (a) Yorkshire and the Humber and (b) Bradford district in 2017; and how many of those appeals were upheld.

Sarah Newton: The table below shows the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals by outcome in 2017 for (a) Yorkshire and the Humber, (b) Bradford. Number of PIP appeals by outcome, 2017  Number of appealsNumber where the decision was overturned at appealNumber where the decision was upheld at appealYorkshire and Humber7,5104,7702,740Bradford740450290  Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.Appeals data is taken from the DWP PIP computer system’s management information. Therefore this appeal data may differ from that held by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics.PIP data includes normal rules and special rules for the terminally ill claimants, and is for both new claims and DLA reassessment claims.The Local Authority and Region geography relates to the origin of the claim rather than the location of where the tribunal was held.Decisions overturned at appeal may include a small number of appeals that have been lapsed (which is where DWP changed the decision after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at Tribunal).The figures do not include withdrawals or strike outs.Official statistics on appeals based on HMCTS data are published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics

Personal Independence Payment: Hearing Impairment

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the accessibility to deaf claimants of the personal independence payment customer satisfaction surveys that are only carried out by telephone.

Sarah Newton: I refer the Hon. Member to my previous answer on 26 April 2018 to PQ136978. https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-04-23/136978/

Personal Independence Payment

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment (PIP) review notice letters were sent out to claimants (a) up to one year and (b) over one year in advance of their PIP award expiry date in the last two years; and how many claimants had their PIP award terminated early in that period.

Sarah Newton: The number of review letters that were sent out to Personal Independence Payments claimants up to one year in advance between January 2016 and January 2018 is 316,610. Of these, 63,200 were disallowed after the review. The Personal Independence Payment Computer Systems are designed to auto-send out notifications on the review date, not before, which is one year before the expiration of the award. As such we have no record of claimants who received notice letters over one year in advance of their PIP award expiry date.

Department for Work and Pensions: Sick Leave

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of her Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.

Kit Malthouse: In November 2016 DWP launched its health and wellbeing strategy covering mental wellbeing. DWP supports mental wellbeing through a number of initiatives including: 24/7 sign-posting to mental health support in DWP; an Employee Assistance Programme available 24/7 offering confidential counselling (face to face, telephone and live chat), advice and information services for all colleagues and managers, including critical incident debriefing services; an immediate or early referral to Occupational Health for expert advice on how to handle mental health conditions at work; and a range of wellbeing programmes and a series of campaigns to raise awareness of mental health/wellbeing and help reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental ill-health. The Department has also established network of Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) who provide acute, short-term and structured support to individuals, provide reassurance, and signpost colleagues to DWP and external sources of support as appropriate. They also actively promote and raise awareness of mental health agenda within their local area. 200 colleagues are currently trained to fulfil this role a with a further 300 to be trained by 2019.The percentage of staff absence and the Working Days lost for reasons related to stress or mental health is as follows:  No. PeoplePercentage StaffWorking Days Lost1 Apr 15 to 31 Mar166,8668.0%157,6481 Apr 16 to 31 Mar-177,0388.2%161,8061 Apr 17 to Mar-187,6959.1%153,923*The figures include those absences recorded under the following categories: Anxiety and Depression, Mental Health Issues or Stress until March 2017 and Anxiety and Depression, Mental Health Other, Stress, Mental Health Anxiety and Depression or Mental Health Issues for 2017-18. Working days lost excludes weekends but does include public holidays. Numbers of staff includes those currently on nil pay.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many young people have received support through the Youth Obligation; and how many of those people have subsequently gone on to (a) an apprenticeship, (b) a traineeship and (c) a work placement.

Alok Sharma: There have been 24,600 young people who have signed a claimant commitment and started the Youth Obligation Support Programme since it began in April 2017, up until the end of February 2018. It is not possible to say how many of them have subsequently gone on to (a) an apprenticeship (b) a traineeship and (c) a work placement without checking individual records, which would incur disproportionate cost. NotesFigures are rounded to the nearest 100.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of young people have stopped receiving benefits since beginning the Youth Obligation.

Alok Sharma: DWP does not hold this information as part of any centralised management information process. To answer this would require checking individual records at each Jobcentre, which would incur disproportionate cost.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many young people have been sanctioned whilst receiving support through the  Youth Obligation.

Alok Sharma: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many work coaches have supported claimants on the Youth Obligation to date.

Alok Sharma: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would disproportionate cost.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants are on the Youth Obligation by Jobcentre Plus (a) region and (b) office.

Alok Sharma: As at the end of February 2018, there were 9,300 claimants on the Youth Obligation Support Programme. We do not currently have validated data on how this is split by Jobcentre Plus region or office. NotesFigures are rounded to the nearest 100.The source of this data is DWP internal management information which does not form part of the official statistics outputs that are released by the Department in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice.

Personal Independence Payment

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will made an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that claimants of  personal independence payments receive a copy of their assessment report.

Sarah Newton: Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants can already ask for a full copy of their PIP assessment report by contacting the relevant helpline, but we intend to improve our PIP communications to ensure that those claimants who want to see their assessment report know that they can request it.

Disability Premium

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2018 to Question 130769, on Disability Premium, on what date her Department plans to release the ad-hoc statistics publication for employment and support allowance people in receipt of severe and enhanced disability premiums.

Sarah Newton: The Disability Premium data is currently being quality assured. We cannot yet give an exact date for the publication.

Personal Independence Payment: Motability

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department provides to people who have had their motability vehicle removed as a result of a personal independence payments assessment in order to help them retain their independence.

Sarah Newton: The Government worked closely with Motability to develop an extensive £175 million Transitional Support package when PIP was first introduced. This aimed to provide support to people who have not been awarded the enhanced mobility component and as a result lost their Motability Scheme vehicle upon reassessment from DLA to PIP. This is paid for by the Motability charity and at no cost to the taxpayer. Claimants who joined the Motability Scheme before 1 January 2014 can keep their vehicle for up to 3 months after finding out their claim is unsuccessful and are offered a one-off payment of between £2,000 and £1,000. If a claim is pending appeal then the claimant is offered a 26- week lease extension and a smaller one-off payment. In addition, claimants have the option to buy their old Scheme vehicle, and can obtain help to adapt any new, non-Scheme vehicle.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Incinerators

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2018 to Question 131978, how can residents who live near an incinerator find out the amount of (a) PM2.5, (b) PM1 and (c)  PM0.1 particulate matter emitted by the incinerator.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: There is currently no accurate method by which the exact amount of PM2.5, PM1 or PM0.1 emitted from incinerators can be determined. This is because total particulate matter (TPM) emissions from modern incinerators are so low that quantifying the amount of the smaller particles with any level of accuracy is not possible using currently available technology. However, there are European air quality standards for both PM10 (which will include PM2.5, PM1 and PM0.1) and PM2.5 (which will include PM1 and PM0.1) and the Environment Agency will not permit an incinerator if its emissions could cause these standards to be exceeded. Documents which explain how the Environment Agency makes its permitting decisions (including its assessment of the impacts from particulate matter) are available on the public register for all incinerators.

Incinerators

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2018 to Question 131978, why incinerators are exempt from monitoring and reporting on emissions of PM 2.5 and of PM10, when other industries are required separately to monitor and report the incidence of such particles.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Waste incinerators are required to continuously monitor and report on emissions of total particulate matter (TPM) in line with the requirements of the European Industrial Emissions Directive. TPM includes PM10 and PM2.5 as well as other sizes. There is no commercially available equipment for the continuous monitoring of PM10 and PM2.5 and therefore there are no requirements in permits to monitor and report on these emissions. Where appropriate, for reasons of air quality, the Environment Agency may require operators in industries it regulates to assess and report on particle size distribution.

Incinerators

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2018 to Question 135379 on Incinerators, what equipment is used by operators of waste incinerators (a) monitor and (b) report on emissions of (i) PM10 and (ii) PM2.5.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Waste incinerators are required to continuously monitor and report on emissions of total particulate matter (TPM) in line with the requirements of the European Industrial Emissions Directive. TPM includes PM10 and PM2.5 as well as other sizes. There is no commercially available equipment for the continuous monitoring (and therefore reporting) of PM10 and PM2.5.

Incinerators

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2018 to Question 135379 on 19th April 2018, what the reason is for the question on Form PI-1 - Pollution Inventory Reporting which requires operators of many industrial processes to report separately on emissions of PM10 and PM2.5 when there is no commercially available equipment for the continuous monitoring of PM10 and PM2.5.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: If emissions of a particular pollutant are not (or cannot be) measured directly, they can often be estimated by the use of emission factors (EFs), for example the amount of pollutant released from a power station per tonne of fuel burned. The Pollution Inventory Guidance for incineration activities specifies some EFs which can be used to calculate PM10 and PM2.5 based on the amount of waste burned. However, the source data for these EFs is out of date, dating from 2000, and modern incinerators will produce far lower levels of PM10 and PM2.5 following the introduction of highly-efficient fabric filters which all incinerators are now equipped with.

Air Pollution

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons why Form PI-1 - Pollution Inventory Reporting sets the reporting threshold for PM2.5 at 1000kg per annum and the reporting threshold for PM10 at 1000 kg per annum when the reporting threshold for total particulate matter is 10,000 kg per annum.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Environment Agency does not hold records on how the original PI thresholds were derived. However, since total particulate matter (TPM) will contain both PM10 and PM2.5, plus particles of other sizes, it is logical that the thresholds for PM10 and PM2.5 can be lower than TPM.

Hedgehogs: Conservation

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the use of Goodnature A24 traps on the hedgehog population.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: On the basis of currently available evidence we are confident that hedgehogs can be excluded from the Goodnature A24 traps effectively when they are set according to the manufacturer’s instructions and an excluder tunnel is used. The trap is not approved for trapping hedgehogs. It is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, unless done so under licence, to use any trap or snare to kill or take a hedgehog, or to set in position any trap or snare in a way calculated to cause bodily injury to a hedgehog.

Home Office

UK Border Force: Northern Ireland

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2018 to Question 136733 on Brexit: Northern Ireland, and with reference to section 3.6(iv) of the Civil Service Nationality Rules: Guidance on Checking Eligibility, whether a decision has been reached on whether to reserve Border Force jobs in Northern Ireland to UK nationals.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office Policy on the nationality of appointments is governed by the Civil Service Nationality Rules. All operational roles in Border Force are deemed reserved in accordance with these rules. These rules are a matter of public record at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/307925/nationality-rules_amendedjh101213.pdf

Home Office: Sick Leave

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of her Department's staff have had days off sick because of mental illness or stress in each of the last three years; and how many days off that amounted to in each of those years.

Victoria Atkins: The number of staff in the Home Office who took sickness absence due to mental health issues in each of the last three years to March 2017 and the number of working days lost is set out in the table enclosed.In the Home Office we are committed to breaking down barriers and reducing stigma for those staff living with mental health conditions. We aim to equip managers to recognise and address stress in the workplace, and encourage employees to talk to their managers about mental health issues so that they can access help and support at the earliest stage.



Table - PQ 138034 
(Excel SpreadSheet, 15.22 KB)

Home Office: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what apps her Department has approved for use of mobile phones issued by her Department.

Victoria Atkins: Both IOS and Android phones are issued by Enterprise Services to Home Office staff. The native and non-native applications available on them are as follows:The native applications available on IOS phones are: calculator, camera, calendar, clock, compass, contacts, mail, maps, messages, notes, phone, photos, reminders, settings, tips, weather, voice memos. The non-native applications available are: Airwatch browser, Airwatch agent, BBC news, Citymapper, Google Maps.The native applications available on Android phones are: calculator, camera, clock, contacts, gallery, Google Maps, Samsung notes, My Files, voice recorder, play store. The non-native applications available are: Airwatch agent, VMware browser, VMware boxer, BBC news, Citymapper.In addition a restricted group of users have access to Facebook and Twitter under Home Office social media policy. We have recently received approval to make available Microsoft Translate and Airport Community, so these will be available to users in the near future.

Immigration

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the cost to the public purse is of processing an application for indefinite leave to remain.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office publishes a list of Border, Immigration and Citizenship application fees and estimated unit costs. The unit cost for an application for indefinite leave to remain is detailed on page 5 of the following linked table. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/691200/Fees_Unit_Cost_Table_-_April_2018.pdf

Immigrants: Caribbean

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department undertook an Equality Impact Assessment in advance of the decision to destroy documentation relating to the Windrush generation.

Caroline Nokes: There was no obligation to complete an Equality Impact Assessment for the destruction of the documentation. Section 149(9) of the 2010 Equality Act provides Schedule 18 exceptions to the need to comply with the public sector equality duty in the Act; one of the exceptions is immigration. In regards to landing cards specifically, although there was provision in the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 to make a requirement for Commonwealth citizens to complete landing cards, this was never implemented. Landing cards were not required for the vast majority of nationals of Independent Commonwealth Countries until the implementation of the Immigration Act 1971. A very small number of cards were completed by Immigration officers for small cohorts of these nationals. Landing cards do not confirm a person’s residency and, therefore, are of limited use to a decision which is reliant on ongoing residency (such as the Windrush cohort). The key pieces of evidence to the Windrush cohort is evidence to show a person’s residency here, but we will consider any evidence provided in order to build a picture of a person’s residency here.

Deportation

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2018 to Question 136771 on Deportation, when the Home Office Manual of Escorting Safely (HOMES) was developed; how many times HOMES has been reviewed; the last time HOMES was reviewed; and on what dates HOMES was updated.

Caroline Nokes: The development of the Home Office Manual for Escorting Safely (HOMES) system started in 2013, following the appointment of the Independent Advisory Panel on Non Compliance Management. The HOMES system was rolled out to overseas and in-country escorts from June 2014. The redacted version of the HOMES manual was published on 26 November 2016 and can be found at the attached link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-manual-for-escorting-safely Changes to the HOMES system were made following an independent review carried out in March 2015. A second review took place in November 2016, resulting in further enhancements to the training package and the supporting manual. The latest update to the HOMES manual took place in April 2018. The HOMES training programme is subject to ongoing review by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Services.

Immigrants: Detainees

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of the 24 April to Question 136754, what the longest period is for a detainee to have been held; and how many and what proportion of released detainees were subsequently detained within (i) one month of their release and (ii) six months of their release.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office does not hold the information requested with regard to the proportion of released detainees who were subsequently detained within (i) one month of their release and (ii) six months of their release, in a reportable format. The information requested could only be supplied at disproportionate cost. Data on length of detention is available in published figures from Immigration Statistics. The published data, which goes back to 2010 is broken down into quarters and is available within table dt_14 and can be accessed via the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/681703/detention-oct-dec-2017-tables.ods

Immigration: EU Nationals

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure safeguards are in place to enable eligible EU citizens to access public funds after the UK leaves the EU and before June 2021.

Caroline Nokes: Safeguarding the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU has always been the top priority for this Government.The draft Withdrawal Agreement between the UK & the EU, published on 19 March, sets out a fair deal on citizens’ rights, allowing EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens in the EU to get on with their lives broadly as now. They will be able to come and live and work in the UK and have the same access to benefits as they do now, until the end of the implementation period..

Immigration: EU Nationals

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) elderly and (b) computer illiterate EU citizens living in the UK are given adequate support to acquire the documentation needed for their immigration status applications before June 2021.

Caroline Nokes: Ensuring that vulnerable groups are supported to easily protect their status is a core element in the design of the EU Settlement Scheme. The Home Office is putting in place measures to ensure that the settlement scheme is accessible and capable of handling vulnerable customers with flexibility. Arrangements are being developed to provide a range of direct support offered by the Home Office and indirect support through third parties such as community groups. These will cater for the needs of groups such as the elderly and those considered to be digitally excluded, and include assisted digital support for those that cannot access or aren’t confident with technology. A user group of external stakeholders who represent the needs of potentially vulnerable individuals has been established to work with the Home Office to ensure the right support arrangements are in place.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what grounds she will accept immigration status and residence applications made by EU citizens after the June 2021 deadline.

Caroline Nokes: EU citizens, and their family members, who are resident in the UK before the end of the implementation period on 31 December 2020 will have until 30 June 2021 to make their application to the EU settlement scheme. We have agreed with the EU that where there are reasonable compassionate or practical grounds for missing the deadline, those persons will be allowed to submit an application within a reasonable further period of time. A proportionate approach will be taken and cases will be considered on their individual merits.

British Citizenship: Ilois

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, further to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister of 25 April 2018, Official Report, Column 870, whether the citizenship status will be offered to (a) residents and (b) children of residents of the Chagos Islands that were evicted from those islands between 1967 and 1973 that now reside in the UK.

Caroline Nokes: All commonwealth citizens who settled in the UK before 1973 will be eligible for the free citizenship offer and details of that process will be provided in the forthcoming days.

Aerials: High Peak

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many mobile phone masts are being built under the Emergency Services Network in High Peak.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will list the location of mobile phone masts being built under the Emergency Services Network in High Peak.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many mobile phone mast sites being built under the Emergency Services Network in High Peak have (a) been granted planning approval, (b) entered the build phase and (c) are live as of 1 April 2018.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many mobile phone mast sites being built under the Emergency Services Network in High Peak (a) are being built with the capacity for multi-occupancy and (b) have a confirmed second tenant.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many mobile phone mast sites funded by the public purse are being built under the Emergency Services Network in High Peak.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will list the locations of mobile phone mast sites funded by the public purse being built under the Emergency Services Network in High Peak.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many mobile phone mast sites being funded by the public purse built under the Emergency Services Network in High Peak have (a) been granted planning approval, (b) entered the build phase and (c) are live as of 1 April 2018.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many mobile phone mast sites funded by the public purse and being built under the Emergency Services Network in High Peak are (a) being built with the capacity for multi-occupancy and (b) have a confirmed second tenant.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much will spent from the public purse on each mobile phone mast site being built under the Emergency Services Network in High Peak.

Mr Nick Hurd: I can confirm there will be 3 new EE sites and 3 planned Extended Area Service (EAS) sites located in the constituency of High Peak as part of the Emergency Services Network (ESN).All new EE sites are being built and delivered to agreed Home Office timeframes and where possible will go live earlier to support commercial coverage. Two of the three EE sites in High Peak have planning permission. Commercial services are not currently provided from these masts as they have not yet been activated, but it is EE’s intention to do so when the sites are live.In respect of EAS sites I can confirm that there are currently 3 sites proposed in High Peak, two of these are located at Snake Pass, and the other at Howden Reservoir. This may reduce to 2 pending planning authority engagement on site locations as 1 nominal location (Howden Reservoir) is close to the High Peak Constituency boundary and may move outside. These sites are in the early stages of Acquisition & Design and therefore none have Heads Of Terms or planning permission approved and therefore have not progressed into build thus far.To provide the necessary coverage for the emergency services, EE is building over 500 new sites. Up to 291 of these new sites will transfer to the Home Office at contract end. EE is paid a fixed fee for the ESN service and as such there is no site-by-site subsidy for these 291 sites. EE is making available early and extensive details of all shareable new sites, including locations, to other mobile network operators as soon as they have planning permission and terms have been agreed with the landlord. EE has provided details of 350 sites to date.Separately the Home Office, through the EAS project, are delivering circa 292 individual sites. I would also like to reassure you that the Home Office has been proactive in seeking to build masts that support multi-operator use where practicable. The Home Office provided an initial generic cost for EAS site build as part of the programme full business case however, given we are at the early stages of initial build cost assessments for EAS sites that are now working their way towards build instruction, we have no approved costs at this time and therefore no data to provide actuals. The same applies to the sites in early acquisition and design phase for the specific High Peak Area detailedFinally I thought it helpful to remind you that ESN is designed to, first and foremost, deliver a ‘blue-light’ communications service.

Poisons: Retail Trade

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has a programme of test purchases of chemical substances to assess compliance by retailers with the provisions of the Poisons Act 1972.

Mr Ben Wallace: The Home Office uses a wide range of methods used in monitoring the compliance of online and offline retailers to ensure that they are adhering to the law.One method is to have a covert officer attempt to purchase a banned or restricted product without meeting the required conditions (i.e. having a Home Office issued licence). Due to operational security, we are unable to provide further details.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Consultants

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what external agencies or consultants have been contracted by his Department to carry out work in each year since 2010.

David Mundell: Holding answer received on 27 April 2018






An error has been identified in the written answer given on 30 April 2018.The correct answer should have been:

Other than for minor or bespoke purchases, the Scotland Office does not normally undertake direct procurement or tendering of external agencies or consultant contracts. It utilises existing service contracts between suppliers and the Scottish Government, Cabinet Office or the Ministry of Justice.

David Mundell: Holding answer received on 27 April 2018



Other than for minor or bespoke purchases, the Scotland Office does not normally undertake direct procurement or tendering of external agencies or consultant contracts. It utilises existing service contracts between suppliers and the Scottish Government, Cabinet Office or the Ministry of Justice.

Scotland Office: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many of his Department's invitations to tender have received no bidders in the last two years.

David Mundell: Other than for minor or bespoke purchases, the Scotland Office does not normally undertake direct procurement or tendering of external agencies or consultant contracts. It utilises existing service contracts between suppliers and the Scottish Government, Cabinet Office or the Ministry of Justice.

Cabinet Office

Infant Mortality

Frank Field: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the annual infant mortality rates in England were by household income quintile for each of the past 10 years for which information is available.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Response 
(PDF Document, 129.99 KB)

Treasury

Banks: Pay

Jonathan Edwards: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department's policy is on a cap on banker's bonuses after the UK leaves the EU.

John Glen: The UK is at the forefront of global efforts to tackle excessive pay practices in the banking sector, and the Government is committed to continue tackling this issue when we leave the European Union in March 2019. At this stage, we cannot comment in detail about our policy position post-March 2019, as it is dependent on a number of variant factors. However, the Government has been clear that we will not be seeking a bonfire of regulations as we leave the EU.

Treasury: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many of his Department's invitations to tender have received no bidders in the last two years.

Robert Jenrick: The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. To provide the requested information HM Treasury would need to manually review all of the documentation relating to procurements undertaken in the last 2 years, checking individual tender responses.

Vocational Training: VAT

Giles Watling: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on the application of VAT to providers of vocational training.

Mel Stride: Under UK law, vocational training is VAT exempt where it is provided by specific eligible bodies, including universities, schools and certain not-for-profit institutions. The normal VAT rules apply the standard rate of 20% to most commercial providers of vocational training.

Treasury: Mobile Phones

Jon Trickett: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what apps his Department has approved for use on mobile phones issued by his Department.

Robert Jenrick: The following apps are approved for use on mobile phones issued by HM Treasury: Adobe Acrobat ReaderAdobe Photoshop ExpressBBC iPlayerBBC iPlayer RadioBBC NewsBlackBerry AtHocBoomerang from InstagramBritish AirwaysClipsEurostar TrainsEvernoteFacebookFinancial TimesFirefoxGood2GoGoogle ChromeGoogle MapsGorkanaHeadspaceHyperlapse from InstagramInstagramLayout from InstagramLinkedInMessengerMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft OneNoteMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft WordNational Rail EnquiriesOracle Fusion ExpensesSkype for BusinessSnapchatThe TelegraphThe Times & The Sunday TimesTrainline UKTwitterWhatsApp MessengerYouTube

Treasury: Permanent Secretaries

Wes Streeting: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many days his Department's Permanent Secretary spent working in HM Treasury at 1 Horse Guards Road in each month since 1 January 2018.

Wes Streeting: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many days his Department's Second Permanent Secretary spent working in HM Treasury at 1 Horse Guards Road in each month since 1 January 2018.

Robert Jenrick: The information requested constitutes personal data and is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act. It is not the practice of HM Treasury to disclose such information.

Children: Day Care

Ellie Reeves: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of applications for 30 hours of free childcare have been processed within seven days in the last three months for which data is available.

Elizabeth Truss: Between 1 January and 31 March 2018 over 99% of applications through childcare service (through which parents apply for 30 hours free childcare and Tax-Free Childcare) were processed within 5 working days.

Taxation: Debts Written Off

Anneliese Dodds: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much tax was written off by HMRC for (a) individuals and (b) businesses due to them becoming insolvent and HMRC constituting an unsecured creditor in each year since 2010.

Mel Stride: HMRC does not hold information on how much tax was written off for individuals and businesses due to Insolvency and HMRC constituting an unsecured creditor. HMRC is able to provide totals of write offs due to insolvency (including death no estate) for 2015/16 to 2017/18 covering tax, tax credits and penalties. Figures (to the nearest thousand) are as follows:  Gross Write OffDividends received post InsolvencyNet Write Off2015-163,129,169,000121,249,0003,007,920,0002016-173,489,414,000159,782,0003,329,632,0002017-183,292,972,000149,623,0003,143,349,000Unfortunately HMRC is not able to provide this detail for earlier years because the data was recorded in a different format.

Advance Pricing Agreements

Anneliese Dodds: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Advanced Thin Capitalisation Agreements have been agreed to in each month in each of the last two years.

Mel Stride: HMRC publishes data regarding Advanced Thin Capitalisation Agreements (ATCAs) on an annual basis. The latest publication covers 2011/12 to 2016/17 and is available at the following link. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/635330/Transfer_Pricing_and_Diverted_Profits_Tax_statistics.pdf Information for 2017/18 will be published in due course.

General Anti-abuse Rule Advisory Panel

Anneliese Dodds: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many opinions the General Anti-Abuse Rule Advisory Panel has published in each year since 2013.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of cases referred to the General Anti-Abuse Rule Advisory Panel by HMRC resulted in positive determinations in each year since 2013.

Mel Stride: HMRC is actively using the GAAR and all cases referred to the GAAR Advisory Panel to date have resulted in a Panel opinion in HMRC’s favour. Since 2013, twelve Panel opinions have been published and HMRC has taken action against each referred case using the GAAR.GAAR Panel opinions are published online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-avoidance-general-anti-abuse-rule-gaar.

Tobacco: Smuggling

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what track and trace system will be in operation for cigarettes, other tobacco products such as IQOS and substitutes such as e-cigarettes after the UK leaves the EU.

Robert Jenrick: Until the UK leaves the EU, we continue to be bound by the requirements of its Directives, which includes implementing a track and trace system for all tobacco products. For cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco, this must be in place by May 2019 and for other tobacco products, by May 2024. In February 2018, the UK government announced plans to introduce a new category of tobacco product for heated tobacco products, such as IQOS. However, these products and e-cigarettes are not captured under the planned EU system to be in place by May 2019. It is not possible to comment on post exit scenarios until our future relationship with the EU has been agreed. However, irrespective of EU exit, the government remains committed to introducing a global track and trace system for tobacco products under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Illicit Trade Protocol.

WHO Framework Convention On Tobacco Control

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for that reasons the UK has not ratified the WHO Protocol to Eliminate the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.

Robert Jenrick: The government is fully committed to the Protocol and preliminary steps to achieve ratification have begun. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the government plans to complete the ratification process by 2 July 2018. This will enable the UK to participate in the first Meeting of the Parties later this year.

Customs Unions

Seema Malhotra: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the economic effect of leaving the Customs Union on trade in goods and services in each region and nation of the UK.

Mel Stride: The Government is undertaking a wide range of ongoing analysis, across a range of scenarios on a sector by sector basis, in support of our EU exit negotiations and preparations. However, this analysis is sensitive in the context of negotiations with the EU. Ministers have a specific responsibility, which Parliament has endorsed, not to release information that would undermine our negotiating position. The Government has confirmed that when we bring forward the vote on the final deal, we will ensure that Parliament is presented with the appropriate analysis to make an informed decision.

Overseas Trade: Crown Dependencies

Bill Esterson: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General of 26 April 2018, on customs and borders, what estimate he has made of the financial contribution to trade (a) as an amount and (b) as a proportion of total UK overseas trade of trade conducted between the UK and a Crown Dependencies customs union in each year of the first five years after such a union is formally established.

Mel Stride: The Crown Dependencies are currently part of the EU Customs Union, by virtue of the UK’s membership. When the UK leaves the EU, the Crown Dependencies’ relationship with the EU will also change and they will leave the Customs Union alongside the UK. The Government is working closely with the Crown Dependencies to maintain our trading relationships after EU exit.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Music

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps his Department has taken to support the live music industry in (a) London and (b) the UK.

Margot James: The live music industry is a vital part of the UK’s music ecosystem, contributing £1bn to the economy in 2016 and it must be allowed to continue to thrive. We have reformed entertainment licensing and recently announced that the Agent of Change principle will be included in the National Planning Policy Framework, helping to protect music venues when new housing is built.In London we worked closely with industry and the GLA on the abolition of Form 696 and supported the Mayor’s Night-time Commission to identify measures to support the nighttime creative industries including live music. We will continue working with industry and Whitehall colleagues on a range of issues affecting the live music industry in London and across the UK.

Football: Females

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to support women’s football in (a) Lewisham, Deptford constituency, (b) London and (c) the UK.

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Football Association on women’s football.

Tracey Crouch: Sport England’s awarding of £14.6million to the Football Association to support the grassroots between 2017-21 includes £2.6million for the development of talented women and girls, specifically. Since 2010, National Lottery and Exchequer funding combined with investment from the Football Association and Premier League has seen a total of over £264 million go towards grassroots programmes and facilities in England intended to be used by men, women, boys and girls. Over £9 million of this has been spent in London, with £239,085 to support football projects in Lewisham and Deptford alone.   Further help towards realising the FA’s ambition to double female participation over the next five years will remain at the forefront of the regular discussions I have with football’s national governing body.

Sportsgrounds: Scotland

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of the introduction of safe standing in Scotland; and if he will make a statement.

Tracey Crouch: I refer the Hon Member to the answer to written question 135985 answered on 19th April 2018.

Sports: Voluntary Work

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to increase the number of volunteers for (a) amateur and (b) youth sports; and if he will make a statement.

Tracey Crouch: Government recognises the value of sport volunteering to the volunteers themselves, and to sports. Our sport and physical activity strategy, 'Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation', published in December 2015, emphasises the importance of volunteering. Sport England launched their volunteering strategy on 1st December 2016 and is investing over £20 million over 4 years (2017 - 21) to support its implementation. Sport England's Volunteering Strategy ‘Volunteering in an Active Nation’ published in December 2016 aims to encourage more people to engage in all types of volunteering through sport and physical activity. It also seeks to ensure better quality, meaningful volunteering experiences. This includes investing up to £3 million in The Opportunity Fund to get more people from disadvantaged communities engaged in volunteering, and up to £3 million in The Potentials Fund for volunteering projects which will benefit 10 - 20 year olds and their communities.

Digital Technology: Older People

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to support older people to use digital technology.

Margot James: We are committed to helping older people acquire basic digital skills as part of our broader strategy to reduce digital exclusion. The UK Digital Strategy, published in March 2017, describes the steps we are taking across government: Establishing the Digital Skills Partnership. This brings together stakeholders from the private, public and charity sectors to join efforts both nationally and locally to help people increase their digital skills at all levels. It will also build upon the 4 million pledges of free digital skills training opportunities that our corporate partners pledged as part of the Digital Strategy of which more than 2 million have already been delivered. Introducing fully-funded basic digital skills training for adults lacking these vital skills from 2020. Adults will have the opportunity to take improved basic digital courses based on new national standards setting out the basic digital skills needed to participate effectively in the labour market and day–to-day life. We will consult on these new standards in the autumn. Using the 3000 libraries across England to provide a trusted network of accessible locations with trained staff and volunteers, free Wi-Fi, computers, and other technology as well as Assisted Digital access to a wide range of digital public services where individuals are unable to access these services independently. These initiatives will build on the significant investment Government already makes in basic digital skills training through the Adult Education offer, the budget for which is being devolved to ensure decisions on skills provision are made at a local level. Government also funds the Future Digital Inclusion programme managed by the Good Things Foundation and delivered through the 5,000 strong Online Centres network. To date this programme has supported over 800,000 adult learners to develop their basic digital skills, many of whom are socially excluded. The NHS Digital Widening Digital Participation, delivered in partnership with Good Things Foundation, develops projects that enable people in England to improve their digital health skills and to increase their access to digital services and tools that support their health and care. Older people accounted for 71.8% of those reached by funded centres within the programme.

Mass Media: Education

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking with the Department for Education to promote the teaching of media skills in schools.

Margot James: Schools have autonomy to determine how they tackle teaching pupils about the media. They can help their pupils understand how the media operates through many aspects of the curriculum. Ministers and officials have regular discussions with their counterparts at DfE on a wide range of issues, including: disinformation, digital literacy, online safety and media skills.

Sports: Disability

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking (a) promote and (b) increase the number of sporting opportunities for disabled people.

Tracey Crouch: Government recognises the importance of helping disabled people to take part in sport and physical activity. The importance of this was featured in 'Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation' which was published in December 2015. This emphasised the importance of getting people active, particularly those groups currently under-represented, including disabled people. Sport England’s strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’ places a clear emphasis on targeting those who are hardest to reach, including disabled people. As such, they are ensuring that each of their investment programmes impacts directly on disabled people. As an example, the Active Ageing funding, which is part of the Tackling Inactivity programme, includes investment into projects that will target disabled people and people with long term illnesses. All of Sport England’s major capital investments are required to make their facilities accessible. To support designers, building owners and operators create accessible facilities Sport England publishes online tools and guidance. Sport England is also working with National Disability Sports Organisations on the role they can play to support the delivery of ’Sporting Future’ in supporting disabled people to take part in sport and physical activity. For the financial year 2017/2018 Sport England invested £1.2 million into the English Federation of Disability Sport, who are now known as the Activity Alliance. This investment is for the Activity Alliance to provide expertise and services in the areas of Marketing & Communications, Research & Insight, and Engaging with disabled people and the disability sector. Also, UK Sport is investing £74.9m over the Tokyo funding cycle, which is over four years (2017-21), into 18 Summer Paralympic sports for Tokyo 2020, an increase of over £2m since Rio 2016.

Public Libraries: Closures

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Answer of 21 March 2016 to Question 904216 on Public Libraries: Closures, if he will publish the (a) name and (b) location of the 110 libraries that closed between 2010 and 2016.

Michael Ellis: The full dataset was published on 11 January 2018 on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/673041/Public_libraries_in_England-_extended_basic_dataset__as_on_1_July_2016_.csv/preview

Broadcasting: Licensing

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many broadcasters have moved their licences away from the UK since the start of 2018.

Margot James: The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport does not hold the information requested. Broadcasting regulation in the UK is independent from government, hence the information on broadcast licence holders is collected and monitored by Ofcom, the communications regulator in the UK.

Data Protection: Small Businesses

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2017 to Question 112162 on Data Protection: Small Businesses, what steps his Department is taking to inform small and medium-sized enterprises of the support provided by his Department.

Margot James: The Government and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) recognise the challenges facing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across the UK economy in their preparations for the Data Protection Bill and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The ICO is leading on providing guidance and support to UK organisations and have already published a number of resources on the Commissioner's website (ico.org.uk) to help all organisations prepare. The ICO has: launched a dedicated helpline service for smaller organisations; updated its 'SMEs toolkit' to reflect the requirements of the GDPR; simplified its "12-step" GDPR preparation guidance; and published FAQs for SMEs. To support the ICO the Government delivered an awareness-raising marketing campaign targeted at those organisations and sectors (inc SMEs) most in need of support. There is still more to do in this space and the Government will continue to support the ICO to ensure the UK is prepared.

House of Commons Commission

Westminster Hall: Cameras

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, for what reason the public were prevented from using single lens reflex cameras in Westminster Hall on 25 April 2018.

Tom Brake: The House of Commons Commission has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.